
Qass__: _ 

Book "' 



FREEMASONRY 



OR, 



EEASONS WHY 

THEIR MEMBERS CANNOT BE FELLOWSHIPPED BY 
THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



BY REV. J. W. BAIN.. 

NEW CASTLE. PA. 



Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thine own lips 
testify against thee. — Job xv. 6. 

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, espe- 
cially unto them who are of the household of faith. — Gal. vi. ]0. 

I spake openly to the world: in secret have I said nothing. — John 
xviii. 20. 



PITTSBURGH, PA.: 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN HOARD OF PUBLICATION. 

1872. 






FREEMASONRY 



rw. 



OR, 

EEASOK"S WHY 



ill 

SI 



I 
) 

SI 



THEIR MEMBERS CANNOT BE FELLOWSHIPPED BY 
THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



BY REV. J. W: BAIN. 

NEW CASTLE, PA. A * 



Thine own month condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thine own lips 
testify a^stiiisr thee. — Job xv. 6. 

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, espe- 
cially unto thein who are of the household of faith. — Gal. vi. 10. 

I spake openly to the world : in secret have I said nothing. — John 
xviii. 20. 



PITTSBURGH, PA.: 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 

1S72. 



.^3 3 



jN gXCMANOR 

OOSRLIN CCL LlB„ 

'^A* 1 1 1917 * 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by the 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 




PREFACE. 

AFTER I had preached on the sub- 
ject of this volume, members of 
secret Orders said : " he knows nothing 
about them!" This book does not tell 
what / know about these Associations, 
but what such members of the Orders 
as Webb, Salem Town, Albert G. 
Mackey, Daniel Sickles, Grosch, Dolcho, 
and such accepted instructors in secret 
Orders, know about them. Those of 
them who are dead were all their lives 
honored members; those living, stand 
high in their several fraternities, having 
taken from three to thirty-two degrees, 
and are authorities in their teaching. 
My arguments against these Orders 
have beei? founded mainly on what 



4 PREFACE. 

these writers say of them. Therefore, 
if the Orders are misrepresented, it is 
by their most honored members. It 
has also been said that I compared 
good upright benevolent citizens to 
the bloody Ku-Klux of South Carolina. 
This is false. Nothing of the kind 
was uttered in the sermons ; nothing of 
the kind can be found in the book; 
nothing more like it than this sentence: 
" Such secret Orders, from the Ku- 
Klux, up or down, which you please, 
to the highest or lowest, are a reflection 
on a free and just government, and 
dangerous to its peace." I have en- 
deavored to treat these Orders only in 
their composite character, in fairness 
and candor, and ask only such an 
examination of this work. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Tiie Witnesses— Their Position and Cre- 
dibility - 7 

CHAPTER II. 
The Order's Assumption of Authority. 18 

CHAPTER III. 

Freemasonry claims to be a TCeligious 
and Saving Institution, and is a false 

AND CORRUPT RELIGION 22 

CHAPTER IV. 
Abuse of the Scriptures, etc 42 

CHAPTER V. 
Secrecy , 57 

CHAPTER VI. 

Unchristian and Unrepublican Titles. 69 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Initiation and the Obligations imposed. 75 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Are they Benevolent and Charitable ? 84 

CHAPTER IX. 

Charges against the Church— The De- 
gree of Eebekah 103 

CHAPTER X. 

Several Objections answered — Other 
Secret Societies— Opposition not pe- 
culiar to United Presbyterians- 
Conclusion 113 

AST APPEAL TO YOUKG MEST 133 



FREEMASONRY 

J±2>TJD 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WITNESSES — THEIR POSITION AND CRE- 
DIBILITY. 

THE United Presbyterian denomination 
testifies against secret orders as evil, and 
forbids its members to connect with them. 
The public have a right to ask the reasons for 
this, and we are bound to give the reasons ; 
and if they are proved neither good nor suffi- 
cient, then we are required to abandon the 
position. But believing we can give good 
reasons why a member of the Church of 
Christ should not be connected with such 
orders, I have offered this volume as, in part 

7 



8 SECRET SOCIETIES 

at least, an answer to this inquiry. Any in- 
stitution that cannot bear, or will not tolerate 
a fair, candid investigation of its character 
and operations, is unfit to be tolerated by 
Church or State. Remember, in what I 
say, I am not speaking of the individuals of 
any order, but of their organic character and 
workings. Many whom I regard as my 
friends, and whom, I am sure, I esteem highly 
as friends, are connected with various secret 
associations. I believe they are upright, good 
men — some of them men of talent and scholar- 
ship ; it would pain me deeply to offend them, 
if I can speak the truth without it. But the 
truth must be spoken, whether accepted or re- 
jected, whether it please or offend. Supreme 
love towards God, and love towards our neigh- 
bor, that is to all mankind, as to self, is an 
epitome of the whole religion of Jesus. It 
inculcates a spirit of universal benevolence, 
and this good will is to be expressed by doing 
good to all as we have opportunity. This law 
warrants us to make a distinction in favor of 
believers in Christ. The discrimination is to 
rest not simply on their connection with the 
Church, but on their religious character, their 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 9 

holiness and likeness to God, and their faith 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it requires 
man to do good to all. This duty to God and 
man is to be openly and publicly taught, and 
this love practised without secrecy or parti- 
ality, except preference be given to Christ's 
children. No institution but the Church of 
Christ is founded on such a law, inculcates 
such a spirit in its members, or practises such 
a precept. I know Speculative Freemasonry, 
and some kindred orders, claim to be founded 
on such a principle, and to exist for the grand 
purpose of doing good to mankind, for the 
practice of charity and good will ; but, be- 
lieving as I do, that secret orders, such as 
Freemasonry, Odd-Fellowship, etc., are selfish 
and anti-Christian, I shall endeavor to show 
that these claims, when made by them, are 
false. What I shall say will have reference 
mainly to the principles and practices of these 
institutions, as such, and not to persons who 
compose them. But it may be asked, how 
are you going to examine and judge such 
orders as Freemasonry, Odd-Fellowship, etc. ? 
They are guarded by grips, signs, pass-words, 
and solemn promises or oaths of secrecy. 



10 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Shall we be satisfied with the testimony of 
faithful, adhering members, as to their charac- 
ter and tendency ? No ! On this ground we 
might accept and indorse the principles and 
practices of any and every association. Be- 
fore entering, these members took a strong 
promise or oath to " never reveal, but ever 
conceal/' anything of the institution that 
might afterwards be made known to them; 
therefore, they can certainly give us no infor- 
mation by which to judge the order. But, 
say they, we have been inside, and can tell 
you this much, that it is all good — that there 
is no evil in it ! Yes ; so the faithful papist 
and Jesuit would testify for his order, and 
think he was telling the truth. So the slave- 
holder would witness for his slavery, and the 
Ku-Klux for his Klan. This would be a 
blind way, indeed, to swallow mental food, 
principles and practices. Intelligent men 
would not accept Christianity simply on the 
testimony of members of the Church that it 
was good and true. More than this; the 
Entered Mason can tell you nothing about any 
of the degrees if he would except those he has 
taken. An Entered Apprentice can tell you 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 1 

nothing about the Master's degree, nor the 
Master Mason about the Mark Master or 
" Ineffable Degrees." How then can we ex- 
amine and judge these orders? We may 
learn something from their accepted and ap- 
proved writers and orators, their published 
monitors and guide-books, and from the 
manifest fruits of the institution ; and these, 
I can assure you, will be my principal wit- 
nesses on this occasion. We have a right to 
use as witnesses those who have taken the 
various degrees, and afterwards being con- 
vinced they were wrong, have repented, and 
from worthy motives, revealed what they 
knew to the world. But the writings I shall 
chiefly use as evidence will be, First, " The 
Freemason's Monitor, by Thomas Smith 
Webb, Past Grand Master," etc., etc. This 
book is endorsed by the highest Masonic 
authority, by a committee appointed by the 
Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter of the State* of 
Rhode Island, Amos T. Jenckes, Grand Secre- 
tary. 

Second, "A Monitor of the Ancient and 
Accepted Rite, thirty-three degrees, including 
those known as the ' Ineffable Degrees,' by E. 



12 SECEET SOCIETIES 

T. Carson, Sovereign Grand Commander of 
the Ohio Grand Consistory of P. R. S., thirty- 
second degree." 

Third, " A Manual of the Lodge, or Moni- 
torial Instructions, by Albert G. Maekey, M. 
D., General Grand High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States." The 
authority of this work no intelligent and 
honest Mason thinks of doubting. 

Fourth, "Moore's Constitutions of Free- 
masonry/' " Grosch's Manual of Odd-Fellow- 
ship," and others. I shall also use revelations 
made by Cephas A. Smith, James Ballard, 
Hollis Piatt, of New York, and others. 
These three named took twenty-one degrees ; 
went as low, or as high, which you please, as 
the "Thrice Illustrious Order of the Cross!" 
But the question may be here asked, can you 
believe that these men, who have perjured 
themselves in violating an oath, will tell the 
truth in subsequent testimony ? This raises 
three other questions that must be answered. 
1st. Can a man repent of a sinful oath? 
2d. If he repents, should he renounce that 
oath, confess, and expose its evil ? 3d. Have 
these men told the truth in what they have 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 13 

revealed concerning their orders? To the 
first question, I answer, it is surely the right 
and duty of every man to repent when he is 
convinced that he has involved himself in sin, 
however he may have become entangled in it. 
Or, w T ill Freemasons say, a man may repent 
of any sin unless he has sworn to continue in 
it ; then he cannot repent of it ? Then those 
who have been, by any means, inveigled into 
a false and sinful oath, or promise, whether 
it binds them to faithfulness to a Ku-Klux 
Klan, a band of pirates or burglars, or only 
to a secret fraternity, are in a horrible condi- 
tion, for they cannot repent! If Herod 
swore to cut off the head of John the Baptist, 
he must do it ! Here then I suppose we have 
found the unpardonable sin. It is to swear to 
sin, or to continue in it ; there can be no for- 
giveness for it, because there can be no repent- 
ance ! Shakspeare has said : 

" It is a great sin to swear unto a sin, 
But a greater sin to keep a sinful oath." 

And a far greater than he, God himself, has 
said, Lev. v. 4, 5 : " If a soul swear, pro- 
nouncing with his lips to do evil or to do 



14 SECRET SOCIETIES 

good, and it be hid from him ; when he know- 
eth of it, he shall be guilty in one of these. 
And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one 
of these things, thait he shall confess that he 
hath sinned in that thing." The man who 
swears to keep, or do, or continue in that 
which is wrong, sins if he keeps his oath, and 
sins if he violates it. He swore in ignorance, 
which was a sin ; he bound himself to evil, 
which was a sin ; yet he was bound, and sins 
in breaking his bond ; yet here he is taught, of 
the two evils, the least is to renounce his sin- 
ful oath, and confess that " he hath sinned in 
that thing." Here we have divine authority 
not only for repentance, but for confession of 
such sins. These men not only declare they 
are persuaded their oaths were sinful, but that 
the public good required that they should re- 
nounce them, and expose their sinfulness. 

The third question is, did they truly reveal 
the obligations and teachings of their order? 
These persons, in the face of obloquy and re- 
proach, from regard to justice and purity, 
made these revelations, confessing their own 
sinfulness in this thing. This fact gives credi- 
bility to their testimony. If the renunciation 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 5 

of an oath disqualifies a man as a witness, 
how can our courts receive the testimony of 
persons who have done this very thing, in 
turning State's evidence? They had come 
under the most fearful obligations to not be- 
tray their associates, yet violated these promises 
to give evidence for the State, and it is re- 
ceived. And remember, by the admission of 
Freemasons themselves, one of them an ex- 
president of a Western college, after the abduc- 
tion of Morgan, some 45,000 turned their 
backs upon the Lodge to enter it no more; 
and it is certainly a pertinent question, were 
all these men liars ever afterwards ? 

2d. Masons have been very liberal in their 
charges of perjury against these men. This 
implies that they told the truth in their reve- 
lations ; for if their revelations are not true, 
they are guilty of falsehood, and false-swear- 
ing, but not of perjury. 

3d. Some of these men were called be- 
fore a Committee appointed by the General 
Assembly of the State of Connecticut, and 
testified under oath to the truth of their 
revelations ; and approved Masonic Monitors, 
such as AVebb's and Carson's, and Preston's 



16 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Illustrations, furnish strong corroborative evi- 
dence to the truth of these revelations. If 
the truth of the disclosures of Hanks, Hatch, 
Welch, and others, is not established by testi- 
mony, then it is impossible to be assured of 
any facts by evidence; and remember, we are 
bound to assume their truthfulness until, by 
satisfactory evidence, they are disproved ; and, 
being fully persuaded they are correct, we are 
justified in using them in examining the insti- 
tution. 

Notice another fact that, according to Ma- 
sons themselves, their Order has never changed, 
unless by additions; they have never sub- 
tracted anything. They tell us it is the same 
in principles, objects and obligations it ever 
was. Benjamin Russel, once Grand Master of 
the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, says: 
" The Masonic institution has been, and now 
is, the same in every place. No deviation has 
been made, or can be made at any time, from 
its usages, rules and regulations." De Witt 
Clinton, once Governor of New York, and 
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New 
York, says : " The principles of Masonry are 
essentially the same, and uniform in every 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 7 

place." The Grand Lodge of Connecticut, 
by a resolution, says : " It is not in the power 
of man, or any body of men, to remove the 
ancient landmarks of Masonry." (See Allyn's 
"Ritual," p. 14.) This is from the highest Ma- 
sonic authority, and it is the boast of men now 
in their eulogies of the Order, that it has made 
additions, but no changes. Then the institution 
is substantially the same now as it was forty 
years ago, when more than 40,000 left it ; and 
we are justified, if need be ; to use their ex- 
posure against it now. 

2* 



18 SECRET SOCIETIES 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ORDER'S ASSUMPTION OF AUTHORITY. 

"TTTHEN a Christian joins either Freema- 
▼ V sonry or Odd-Fellowship, he must recog- 
nise the authority of the Order to command him 
in duties toward his fellow-men, which he was 
previously bound to by the command of his 
Divine Master, and which he should perform 
only in obedience to Him and for His honor. 
They do not command in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and recognise the fact that the 
authority to require such duties as they im- 
pose can be received only from Him, and can 
become obligatory only by His command. 
Even where they use the language of Scrip- 
ture in commanding, they leave out the name 
of the Lord Jesus ! — thus contemning His 
claims. When the Apostles gave laws to 
Christians, they did it in the name of the 
Lord Jesus ; when the Church imposes any 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 9 

duty on the followers of Christ, she does it in 
the name and by the authority of the Lord 
Jesus, recognising the fact that she has none 
of her own. But these orders, like the Pope, 
command in their own name. They say, 
" We command you to visit the sick, to help 
the poor, educate the orphan, comfort the 
widow, and assist those that are in distress." 

This, or similar language, you will find em- 
blazoned on the banners of Odd-Fellows, and 
in some of the books of Masonry and Odd- 
Fellowship. The duties are right, but who 
gave any association authority to command a 
Christian ? My dear sir, you profess to be a 
Christian, and Christ commanded you to do 
all these things before any order or fraternity ; 
and are His command and authority not higher 
than any other, and is His honor not dearer to 
you ? Or will you, as a professed Christian, 
neglect these duties, and yet perform them at 
the bidding of your fraternity? Is this no insult 
to the authority of your Divine Master? In 
any difference you make in doing good to 
men, Christ commands you to discriminate in 
favor of " the household of faith," the believer 
in Christ Jesus ; but the Order, assuming an 



20 SECRET SOCIETIES 

authority above the Lord, in direct opposition 
to His law, commands you to prefer a member 
of your Order to any one else on earth. Your 
heavenly Master requires you to help the 
fatherless, the widow, and stranger, though he 
be a Samaritan, and not a member of your 
fraternity, nor even a Christian ; but your 
earthly Master only binds you to help a 
brother craftsman. (See Webb's " Monitor," 
p. 32.) 

The benevolence of the institution is alto- 
gether narrow and selfish, and required by 
no rightful authority. If a man is sick and 
in need, if a widow is poor and needs protec- 
tion and care, if an orphan is destitute and 
defenceless, by a supreme divine command, as 
a Christian, you have a duty to perform to- 
wards all these, according to your ability, 
whether they are in any way connected with 
any fraternity or church, or not. Then do it 
in the name of Christ, and in obedience to His 
command. Any goodness, charity, or kind- 
ness which these orders require, is imposed 
upon the Christian by a far higher, and more 
rightful authority ; and for a professor of 
Christ to do these things in the name of a 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 21 

human fraternity, and not in the name of the 
Lord, is to contemn and offend that Supreme 
authority. The glory of the good works to 
which he was created (Eph. ii. 10) in Christ 
Jesus, is given to the honor of his Order, not 
to the Lord. 



22 SECRET SOCIETIES 



CHAPTER III. 

FREEMASONRY CLAIMS TO BE A RELIGIOUS 
AND SAVING INSTITUTION, AND IS A FALSE 
AND CORRUPT RELIGION. 

"TX~TE object to a Christian connecting with 
V V the institution of Freemasonry, because, 
by many of its accepted writeTs of the highest 
authority, it is claimed to be a religion and a 
saving institution. And I do know that many 
make its ceremonies and duties a substitute 
for religion, for faith in Christ and the grace of 
God. I have heard persons say if a man lives 
up to Masonry, he must be good and pious. 
Another says, Masonry is a good enough re- 
ligion for him ! And what wonder, when 
their approved authors clearly teach this. 
Webb says (p. 121) : " By a diligent observance 
of the By-Laws of your Lodge, the Constitu- 
tions of Masonry, and, above all, the Holy 
Scriptures, as a rule and guide to your faith, 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 23 

you will be enabled to lay up a crown of re- 
joicing which shall continue when time shall be 
no more." If this mean anything, it must 
mean the Scriptures as taught by Masonry. 
Observe the By-Laws of the Lodge, and the 
Constitutions of Masonry, and ivith these the 
Scriptures, and you lay up your crown. Are 
the Scriptures themselves not sufficient, with- 
out these Masonic additions ? No need of the 
atonement of Jesus, and the regenerating work 
of the Holy Spirit ! And if it be a religious 
institution, teaching saving truth, why should 
any man wish to join two denominations ? 

This must surely be a reflection on one or 
both of them. Read the work of Salem 
Town ; I will make several quotations from 
it; it is entitled, "A System of Speculative 
Masonry," exhibited in a course of lectures 
before the Grand Ghapter of the State of New 
York, at their annual meetings in the City of 
Albany. It is recommended by nine Grand 
Officers, in whose presence the lectures were 
delivered, and by the Hon. De Witt Clinton, 
General Grand High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States of Amer- 
ica, and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of 



24 SECEET SOCIETIES 

New York, and so on ad libitum et ad nauseam. 
On p. 53, Mr. Town says, "The principles 
of Freemasonry have the same co-eternal and 
unshaken foundations, contain and inculcate 
the same truths in substance, and propose the 
same ultimate end as the doctrines of Chris- 
tianity." Now all Christians know that the 
ultimate end of the doctrines of Christianity 
is the sanctification and salvation of the soul. 
Then Freemasonry must be a saving institu- 
tion, and unless Jesus Christ founded it, then 
Solomon, Hiram Abiff, St. John, Andrea, or 
somebody else, has revealed a system of truth 
equal in power and efficacy to that of the Lord 
Jesus, and should receive honor equal to Him. 
Mr. Town says, on p. 194, " The same system 
of faith, and the same practical duties taught 
by revelation, are contained in and required 
by the Masonic Institution." Then the Jew, 
the Mohammedan, and all others, must be 
required to have faith in Jesus Christ alone 
for salvation, must be required to serve Him, 
to worship Him, honoring the Son even as the 
Father! This is clearly what revelation re-, 
quires, but who believes for a moment that 
Masonry requires any such thing ? If so, 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 25 

how, in the language of Webb, can " the dis- 
tant Chinese, wild Arab, and American Savage 
embrace (in the Lodge) a brother Briton, 
Frank, or German?" The same idea is found 
in nearly all their writers that I have seen 
But further on, we shall see how false such an 
assertion concerning Masonry is. But suppose 
we admit it is true, that Masonry has the 
same system of faith, etc., as revelation, then 
it is not only an outrage, but a great crime, 
to shut its doors against all women, and all 
men who are lame, infirm, doted, or unable to 
pay an initiation fee of $10 or $50, and all 
regular dues. This is shutting up the king- 
dom of heaven against all women, and multi- 
tudes of men, with a witness. On p. 37, 
Town says, " Speculative Masonry combines 
those great and fundamental principles which 
constitute the very essence of the Christian 
system." On p. 170, Town says, "It is a 
great truth and weighty as eternity, that the 
present and everlasting well-being of mankind 
is solely and ultimately intended " (in Free- 
masonry). Again, Town says, " In advancing 
to the fourth degree, then the Freemason is 
assured of his election and final salvation! 



26 SECEET SOCIETIES 

Hence opens the fifth degree, where he dis- 
covers his election to, and his glorified station 
in, the kingdom of his Father ! " We had 
been told- that they taught no sectarian reli- 
gious tenets, yet here is the peculiar and 
mysterious doctrine of election ! So many 
Methodist ministers are connected with the 
Order, I wonder they do not denounce this. 
But the reason is, I suppose, this is not elec- 
tion through sovereign Divine grace, but 
Masonic works ; so that whether he be Arab, 
Chinaman, Turk, Jew, or Infidel, if he can 
only reach the fourth and fifth degree, he is 
" assured of his election and final salvation/ 1 
not through Christ, but by Masonic virtue ! 
If Town does not claim Freemasonry to be a 
religion and a saving institution, it is because 
language cannot express it. Mackey, in his 
" Book of the Chapter/' recommends Town's 
work to every one who would understand 
Masonry. You can thus see in what estimation 
it is held at present by their accepted instruc- 
tors. To prove this point, I now quote from 
a book entitled, "A Manual of the Lodge; or 
Monitorial Instructions, by Albert G. Mackey, 
M. D., General Grand High Priest of the 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 27 

General Grand Chapter of the United States." 
Dr. Mackey is the author of several works on 
Masonry, is highly esteemed as an instructor 
in the Order, and no intelligent and honest 
Mason will think of denying the authority of 
this work in the institution. Mackey says 
plainly in so many words, on p. 40, " Masonry 
is a religious institution." On p. 41, he says, 
a Mason, "on the night of his initiation, 
commences the great task which is never in 
his future Masonic life to be discontinued, of 
erecting in his heart a spiritual temple for the 
indwelling of God ! " Remember, you may 
have been a Christian for years, worshipping 
God by faith in Christ, but you never com- 
menced erecting in your heart a spiritual tem- 
ple for the indwelling of God until that dark 
night you were initiated in the Masonic Lodge ! 
The ceremony of receiving an Entered 
Apprentice is said to be to receive him in 
a naked condition, except shirt and drawers, 
his right foot in a slipper, his left foot, 
left breast and arm naked, a rope, called 
a cable-tow, round his neck, and his eyes 
blindfolded. After taking the obligation, amid 
the clapping of hands and heavy stamping of 



28 SECKET SOCIETIES 

the feet on the floor, the bandage is removed, 
and the candidate opens his eyes in as strong 
a light as can possibly be made in the Lodge. 
On the 16th of November, 1870, before a 
large audience in Shakspeare Hall, Syracuse, 
New York, Mr. Charles Blanchard gave this 
as the manner of receiving an Entered Appren- 
tice, and six other intelligent and reliable 
witnesses testified that it was represented as 
they had received it. These witnesses are yet 
living ; and if any doubt the statement, they 
can apply to these men at any time: their 
names are Revs. Soper, Dunbar, and Rath- 
bun ; Mr. Nessell, Hon. Samuel Green, and 
Rev. David Bernard. Whether this be the 
manner of initiation or not, whatever it is, 
Mackey calls it " The Shock of Entrance," and 
" The Shock of Enlightenment." Let us hear 
what he says about it. P. 20 : " Shock of 
Entrance," — " The initiation is a type of the 
new life upon which the candidate is about to 
enter. There he stands without our portals, 
on the threshold of this new Masonic life, in 
darkness, helplessness, and ignorance. Having 
been wandering amid the errors, and covered 
over with the pollutions of the outer and 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 29 

profane world, he comes inquiringly to our 
doors, seeking the new birth, and asking a 
withdrawal of the vail which conceals Divine 
truth from his uninitiated sight ! " Dear 
Christian brother, you belong to the Church 
of Christ, and thought you could find Divine 
truth there ; but you were wofully mistaken, 
you cannot see it through " the* rent vail of 
the Redeemer's flesh/' But hear Mr. Mackey 
again : " And here, as with Moses at the burn- 
ing bush, the solemn admonition is given, 
i Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the 
place whereon thou standest is holy ground ! ' " 
(Remember the floor of the Lodge is holy 
ground, and the Almighty is about to reveal 
Himself to you, O Christian, through the 
" Shock of Entrance " to a Masonic Lodge !) 
On pp. 20 and 21, this author continues thus: 
" And ceremonial preparations surround him, 
all of a significant character, to indicate to 
him that some great change is about to take 
place in his moral and intellectual condition. 
There is to be not simply a change for the 
future, but also an extinction of the past ; for 
initiation is, as it were, a death to the world, 
and a resurrection to a new life. Now this 
3* 



30 SECRET SOCIETIES 

new birth should be accompanied with some 
ceremony to indicate it symbolically, and to 
impress upon the mind this disruption of old 
ties, and formation of new ones. Hence the 
impression of this idea is made by the symbol- 
ism of the shock at the entrance. The world 
is left behind — the chains of error and igno- 
rance, which had previously restrained the 
Candidate in moral and intellectual captivity, 
are broken — the portal of the Temple has 
been thrown widely open, and Masonry stands 
before the neophyte in all the glory of its form 
and beauty ! Shall the entrance for the first 
time into the Lodge — the birth, as it has justly 
been called, into Masonry — be symbolized by 
no outward sign ? Or rather shall not all the 
Sons of Light who witness the impressive 
scene, feel like the children of Korah, who, 
when released from the captivity of Babylon, 
and once more returning to the Temple, ex- 
claimed, in the heartburst of their grateful 
joy, i O, clap your hands, all ye people ; shout 
unto God with the voice of triumph/" The 
Shock of Entrance is then the symbol of the 
disruption of the candidate from the ties of 
the world. " It is the symbol of the agonies 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 31 

of the first death, and of the throes of the new 
birth!" 

On p. 29, Mackey continues, under the 
Shock of Enlightenment: "This mental illumi- 
nation — this spiritual light, which, after his 
new birth, is the first demand of the candi- 
date, is but another name for Divine Truth — 
the truth of God and the soul — the nature and 
essence of both — which constitute the chief 
design of all Masonic teaching!" On p. 39, 
he says : " Hence darkness became the symbol 
of initiation ; it is intended to remind the can- 
didate of his ignorance, which Masonry is to 
enlighten ; of his evil nature, which Masonry 
is to purify ; of the world, in whose obscurity 
he has been wandering, and from which Ma- 
sonry is to rescue him ! " 

When this new-born soul has passed 
through the Fellowcraft's and Master's de- 
grees, Mackey says of him, after Hutchinson 
(Lex., p. 295) : " The Master Mason repre- 
sents a man, under the doctrine of love, saved 
* from the grave of iniquity, and raised to the 
faith of salvation" And the same writer 
(Lex., p. 16) says that Masons, so regenerated, 
and living up to the precepts of the Order, 
are "free from sin" 



32 SECRET SOCIETIES 

General Sickles is equally explicit. He de- 
scribes man, by nature, as " shut from inter- 
views with the only wise God," and declares 
the end and object of Masonry to be "to re- 
store man to his God." Hence, he says: 
" This (the Master's) degree is a type of the 
communion of man with God" (Sickles' 
"Ahiman Rezon," p. 188). And he thus 
sums up the nature of, and closes his com- 
ments upon, this degree : " We now behold 
man complete in morality and intelligence, 
with the stay of religion added to insure him 
of the protection of Deity, and guard him 
against ever going astray. These three de- 
grees form a perfect and harmonious whole, 
nor can we conceive of anything that can be sug- 
gested more which the soul of man requires" 

Here is surely the Church par excel- 
lence, out of which there can assuredly be 
no knowledge of Divine Truth, no regen- 
eration or " new birth," no death to the 
world, no spiritual resurrection, no purify- 
ing the evil nature, consequently no salvation ! 
illiberal as United Presbyterians have been 
called, yet it is conceded they admit all these 
may be found in all evangelical denominations, 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 33 

and possibly even in the Papal Church ; but 
here is an institution that claims exclusive 
possession of all the means and agencies of 
eternal life. For does not Mackey say, "a 
vail," which " the Shock of Entrance and En- 
lightenment" only can remove, " conceals 
divine truth from the uninitiated sight? 5 ' 
And does he not tell us the man thus under- 
goes "the agonies of the first death, death to 
the world," and " the throes of the new birth, 
a resurrection to a new life," and not till then 
does he " commence erecting in his heart a 
spiritual temple for the indwelling of God," 
and from his " evil nature Masonry is to purify 
him?" 

Surely these are essential to salvation, 
and out of Masonry we cannot be saved! 
Alas ! alas ! for the poor and for the women ! 
Heaven can be nothing but a Bachelor's Hall 
and a Widower's Refuge ! as all females of 
the race are shut out from all this divine 
truth, regeneration, sanctification, resurrection, 
and new life, and the poor, and the maimed, 
and the aged, and the young, must remain in 
darkness and ignorance. And even the whole, 
healthy, and rich, if they desire this salvation, 



34 SECRET SOCIETIES 

must obtain it by pressing past the Tyler 
guardsman, with grip, signs, and pass-word, 
pay "a good round sum " for it, and then swear 
to conceal it forever from every perishing soul 
outside ! 

Truly, if Masonry holds the key of 
knowledge, as it claims, and possesses Truth 
so essential to human happiness and eternal 
welfare, its hiding of it makes it the cruelest 
criminal against mankind that exists, unless 
Satan may be excepted! Again, on p. 195, 
Mackey gives the prayer used in dedicating a 
Lodge, in which this language occurs : " Let 
all the people know that this house is built 
and consecrated to Thy name. Behold, the 
heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how 
much less this house that we have built !" 

This prayer is made by the Grand Chaplain, 
using the words of Solomon in consecrating 
the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. Yet 
is it not a religious institution ? Again, in 
resolutions of respect, and obituary notices of 
their deceased, they show clearly they believe 
the Lodge a Church and a saving institution. 
I have several notices of this kind, and will 
quote from one : " Whereas, it has pleased the 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 35 

Supreme Architect of the Universe to transfer, 
by death, our true and well-beloved brother, 
John A. Gill, from his work in this Lodge 
and Life, to the Lodge and Life above, both 
of which are immortal." The deceased may 
never have had any connection with the 
Church of Christ, never have shown any re- 
spect whatever for his ordinances and dying 
command, yet they are all, Jew and Gentile, 
transferred to the " Lodge above." Mackey 
and Grosch both talk of the " Lodge above." 
Sickles (p. 120) says death is "sent from our 
Supreme Grand Master, to translate us from 
this imperfect to that all-perfect glorious and 
celestial Lodge above." The legitimate inference 
is, that Heaven is simply a Freemason's 
Lodge ! Well, we hope, if that is the case, 
all women will not be excluded there ; some 
would like to have, at least, their mothers, 
sisters, wives, and daughters there. Their Ma- 
sonic Church is then closed with this charac- 
teristic, selfish, Christless benediction (Mackey, 
p. 16), "May the blessing of heaven rest on 
us,^and all regular Masons ! Amen !" 

The United Presbyterian Church, and most 
other evangelical denominations, refuse to 
admit those connected with another religious 



36 SECRET SOCIETIES 

body. If a person is a Baptist or Methodist, we 
do not receive him. It would be a reflection and 
an insult to one or both bodies with which he 
was connected. If he withdraws from one 
denomination, he is then received into another. 
But we refuse membership to Freemasons, 
not simply because they are connected with a 
religious institution, but because they are con- 
nected with a very corrupt and unchristian 
religious institution. They boast that they 
have fraternised all creeds and shades of 
opinion, except declared Atheists ; that their 
Order is a universal Church that fellowships 
Pagans, Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and 
unbelievers. 

Both Webb and Sickles say, in the Lodge, 
"the distant Chinese, the wild Arab, and 
the American Savage, will embrace a brother 
Briton, Frank, or German." On p. 216 
Mackey says: "Though in ancient times 
Masons were charged in every country to be of 
the religion of that country or nation, whatever 
it was" That is, if the nation was Pagan, 
the Mason must be Pagan ; if Papist, or any- 
thing else, the Mason must be that, or pretend 
to be ; that is all it could amount to. But 
Mr. Mackey tells us they have found out a 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 37 

more excellent way. He says : " It is now 
thought more expedient only to oblige them to 
that religion in which all men agree ! " Do 
tell us what religion that is ? Most certainly 
it is not the Christian. Yet, my dear Christian 
brother, whatever may be your feelings and 
thoughts of Christ, in your worship in the 
Lodge, you are obliged — by your royal Mas- 
ters — obliged to be of the religion in which 
all men agree ! Your expressions of faith and 
love, your prayers and songs of praise, must 
be only such as they will permit ! How can 
you find out " the religion in which all men 
agree V It must be by an eliminating pro- 
cess, something like this : 

When a Jew comes to worship in the Lodge, 
he must leave at the door, with the Tyler, 
or somewhere else, everything peculiarly 
Jewish, "as a prejudice." If the Chinaman 
comes in, he must leave everything peculiar to 
Josh. If the Mohammedan, he must leave 
everything peculiar to Mohammedanism. If 
the Christian comes in, he must leave every- 
thing peculiar to Christ. The simple Christian 
is not forbidden to think Jesus Christ is supe- 
rior to Vishnu, Confucius, Mohammed, or Joe 
4 



38 SECEET SOCIETIES 

Smith, but he must so worship his God that 
Arab, Chinaman, Infidel, or Jew can join him 
' without offence ! 

It is barely possible God may not be 
pleased with this worship, that leaves out the 
Mediator He provided ; but this is a trifling 
matter, so that none of the Odd-Fellows or 
Masonic brethren are offended ! 

Grosch,in his " Manual of Odd-Fellowship" 
(p. 285), says : " The descendants of Abraham, 
the diverse followers of Jesus, the Pariahs of 
the stricter sects, here gather round the same 
altar, as one family, manifesting no differences 
of creed or worship ; they have left their pre- 
judices at the door !" 

Worshipping here, the Christian is as much 
of a Jew or Hindoo as anything else ; every- 
thing peculiar sacrificed, and " the religion in 
which all men agree " is left ; and what is 
that but Deism, or bald Infidelity ? The 
Mason must •believe in some god, but it don't 
matter much what kind of a god. 

On p. 40, Mackey says : " A belief in God 
constitutes the sole creed of a Mason — at least 
the only creed he is required to profess." On 
the same page he says : " Our ancient brethren 
worshipped Deity under the name Fides ! n 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 39 

You may call the thing Bacchus, Venus, 
Fides, or Fido, if you will only acknowledge 
the thing your god to swear by ; this is suffi- 
cient to qualify you to worship with all the 
pompous sacerdotal rites of Freemasonry. 
We believe such mongrel will-worship is dis- 
honoring and insulting to Jehovah Jesus. It 
is a religion that positively denies or ignores 
the atonement for human guilt made by Jesus, 
and the need of a Mediator in approaching 
God, and teaches salvation by ceremonies, 
moral duties, and works, that is, by Masonic 
works. 

Nowhere in their ritual is there the slightest 
recognition of either an atonement or Me- 
diator. But (p. 63) Sickles says : " White is 
emblematic of that purity of life and rec- 
titude of conduct by which alone we can ex- 
pect to gain admission into the Holy of Holies 
above." 

Mackey says the same thing, and on p. 203 
has this language : u We may be received into 
Thine everlasting Kingdom, and there enjoy 
the just reward of a pious and virtuous life." 

Salem Town (pp. 33-184) says: "The Di- 
vine Being views no moral character in a man 
with greater complacency than his who, in 



40 SECRET SOCIETIES 

heart, strictly conforms to Masonic require- 
ments ! " 

The burden of all their teachings is Ma- 
sonic morality, and Masonic benevolence. 
" Obey Masonic law and live ! " Repentance 
towards God, faith in Jesus Christ, and regene- 
ration and sanctification by the Holy Spirit 
are never so much as hinted at as requisite to 
salvation. 

One of them said to me : " It is not a 
religious institution at all ; we only claim 
to be a social benevolent brotherhood." If 
this be true, we say honesty demands that 
they should throw away their pompous reli- 
gious ritual, and abolish the offices of Priest, 
High Priest, Grand High Priest, Most Excel- 
lent Grand High Priest, and Grand Chaplain, 
and their liturgy of hymns and prayers, 
especially such songs as this, from Mackey, 

p. 186 : 

"Hail ! Masonry Divine, 

Mat ch less beyond compare ! 
No art with thee can share; 
Thou art divine 1" 

Page 199 : 

44 May the Grand Master whom, all things possessing, 
The heaven of heavens can never, contain, 
Crown this good work with His favor and blessing." 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 41 

Then the prayer in dedicating a Lodge, 
given by Mackey (p. 196), has this language: 
" That Thine eyes may be open night and day 
(especially night) toward this house, even 
toward the place consecrated to Thy name." 
Now, it seems to me, if God is the Grand 
Master of the Lodge, and it is consecrated to 
His name, as Solomon's Temple was, then it 
is a religious institution. . At one time, in 
New Orleans, I know the rite of baptism was 
administered by the Order. And, according 
to E. T. Carson (p. 99), the Chapter of Eose 
Croix formerly had solemn table, or com- 
munion ceremonies. They bury their dead 
with religious rites, and transfer them all to 
the Eternal Lodge above. It has all the 
marks of a religious institution, claims to be 
such, and the Mason who denies this is either 
strangely ignorant of the institution to which 
he belongs, or has a purpose to serve in the 
denial. 



4* 



42 SECEET SOCIETIES 



CHAPTER IV. 

ABUSE OF THE SCKIPTUKES, ETC. 

"TTT~E object to a. Christian connecting with 
▼ ▼ these Orders, especially Freemasonry 
and Odd-Fellowship, because they make a per- 
verted and profane use of God's titles, types, 
and Sacred Word. In the charge given to the 
"Most Excellent Prelate," of an Encamp- 
ment of Knights Templar, we have this 
language in Webb's "Monitor" (p. 290): "I 
now have the pleasure of investing you with 
the Triple Triangle, a beautiful emblem of 
the Eternal Jehovah !" 

Now I ask, where does the Scriptures teach 
that anything is an emblem of Jehovah? 
Was not Moses to charge the Israelites to re- 
member that they saw no similitude (shape or 
emblem) of Jehovah, when he spoke to them 
in the Mount (Deut. iv. 12-15)? Therefore, 
in the Second Commandment, God forbids 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 43 

them to make any likeness of anything in 
heaven or earth to represent him. Yet the 
Christian — it may be a Christian minister — 
who is taught that God is a Spirit, and is 
commanded " to worship Him in spirit and in 
truth," becomes a Prelate of a Commandery, 
or Council of Knights, then he must worship 
the great Jehovah under the emblem of a 
Triple Triangle! I suppose the Israelites did 
not think Jehovah was really like their golden 
calf, but they took it for a symbol or emblem 
of Deity. Was that any worse than to repre- 
sent him by a triangle ? Nay, I believe the 
latter more gross and absurd. Is Jehovah 
three-cornered, or nine-cornered? How de- 
grading and absurd ! 

Both Odd-Fellows and Masons use the 
Word of God, the Tabernacle, Ark of the 
Covenant, Breastplate of the High Priest, the 
Brazen Serpent, Aaron's Rod that budded, and 
other sacred emblems, as symbols of Masonry. 
Where does the Christian and Bible student 
find that God ever appointed these as symbols 
of Masonry ? God appointed them for a very 
different purpose, and such a use of them is a 
profane perversion. Even if they were not 



44 SECRET SOCIETIES 

misapplied, is it not Judaizing, and a reproach 
of Christ for a Christian to go back to the use 
of altars, incense, sacrifice, symbols and mitred 
Priests in worship ? Has Christ not fulfilled 
all these types, and given us a spiritual service 
of the greatest simplicity ? In the grade of 
the Knights of East and West, the presiding 
officer is stvled "the Most Powerful," or 
"All Puissant/' or, literally, the All Mighty ! 
What a title for a mortal man to assume or 
accept. How it would become an humble 
follower of Jesus, a Christian, who is a sinner 
saved by grace ! Is it any more humble and 
innocent than "His Infallible Holiness, our 
Lord God the Pope ? » I think not. 

In admitting candidates to this grade, the 
All Puissant represents God seated on the 
throne of heaven, and the Lamb opening the 
seven seals ! The Senior Warden represents 
the strong angel proclaiming, " Who is worthy 
to open the book ! " By drawing a little 
blood from the candidate's arm — enough to 
stain a napkin — he is represented as washing 
his robes and making them white in his own 
blood ! After the opening of the seventh seal, 
the All Puissant says, " Here is seen the ful- 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 45 

filment of a prophecy (Rev. vii. 3), strike 
not nor punish the profane and wicked of our 
Order, until I have selected the true and 
worthy Masons." 

The sounding of the seventh trumpet, and 
conducting the candidate to the canopy at the 
right side of the All Puissant, represents the 
end of the world, and the glorification of true 
Masons at the right hand of God, " having 
passed through the trials of Freemasonry, 
and washed their robes in their own blood." 
(See Bernard's " Light on Masonry;" Finney, 
chap. x. ; and Carson's " Monitor," pp. 83, 84.) 
All this is a shameful travesty and caricature 
of the description in the 5th, 6th, and 7th 
chapters of Revelation. Also in the degree 
of Knights of the Christian Mark, and the 
Royal Arch Mason, the scene of Moses and 
the burning bush, w T ith various parts x)f Isaiah 
and the 9th chapter of Ezekiel, are similarly 
misapplied and caricatured. 

Again, they mutilate, pervert, and profane 
the Scriptures, and corrupt, discredit, and 
positively contradict their history and state- 
ments. In opening the fourth, or Mark 
Master's degree, a part of the 2d chapter of 



46 SECRET SOCIETIES 

1 Peter is commanded to be read ; but it is 
so mutilated as to adapt it to the Lodge, and 
expunge the name of Jesus Christ. In Webb, 
p. 92, it reads thus : " Wherefore, brethren, 
lay aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies, 
and all evil speakings ... if so be^ ye 
have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to 
whom coming as unto a living stone, dis- 
allowed indeed of men, but chosen of God 
and precious, ye also, as living stones, be ye 
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, 
to offer up sacrifices acceptable to God." 
Take your Bible, turn to the place, and you 
will find it reads : " To offer up sacrifices 
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" Why 
leave out this name, the highest in heaven and 
earth? In this, I suppose, they fulfil the 
very prediction quoted, that this stone is " dis- 
allowed indeed of men." 

The accommodation of the 6th and 7th 
verses is thus given by Webb : " Wherefore, 
also, it is contained in the Scriptures, Behold 
I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a tried stone, 
a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation, he 
that believeth shall not make haste to pass it 
over. Unto you, therefore, which believe, it 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 47 

is an honor ; and even to them which be dis- 
obedient, the stone which the builders dis- 
allowed, the same is made the head of the 
corner." Then adding the word " Brethren," 
the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses are appropri- 
ated. Beader, take your Bible, and see how 
this whole passage is mutilated. 

In the seventh, or degree of Boyal Arch 
Mason, the following passage is, read in open- 
ing : 2 Thess. iii. 6. I will give it as it is 
in Sickles, p. 51, and Webb, p. 156; and, 
reader, take your Bible, and see how different it 
is from the passage there. By the authority of 
Masonry, " Now we command you, brethren, 
. . . that ye withdraw yourselves from every 
brother that walketh disorderly, and not after 
the tradition which ye received of us. For 
yourselves know how ye ought to follow us ; 
for we behaved ourselves not disorderly among 
you. Neither did we eat any man's bread for 
naught, but wrought with labor and travel 
day and night, that we might not be charge- 
able to any of you. Not because we have not 
power, but to make ourselves an example to 
you, to follow us. For even when we were 
with you, this we commanded you, that if any 



48 SECRET SOCIETIES 

would not work, neither should he eat. For 
we hear there are some who walk among you 
disorderly, working not at all, but are busy- 
bodies. Now them that are such, we command 
and exhort . . . that with quietness they work 
and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, 
be ye not weary in well-doing. And if any 
man obey not our word, note that man, and 
have no company with him, that he may be 
ashamed ; yet count him not as an enemy, 
but admonish him as a brother. Now the 
Lord of peace himself give you peace always. 
The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, 
which is the token ; so I write." The 18th 
verse is left out. Examine, and you will see 
the whole passage is divested of the authority 
and sacred name of Jesus Christ. Why is this ? 

Among the Papal and Chivalric Knight 
degrees, you will find some reference to the 
Cross and Redeemer ; but until you get beyond 
the Royal Arch degree, the name of Jesus 
and all reference to Him is carefully excluded. 

From Webb's " Monitor," pp. 81, 82, and 
Mackey's, p. 108, also from Sickles, we 
learn that the " Temple of Solomon was sup- 
ported by 1453 columns, and 2906 pilasters, 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 49 

all hewn out of the finest Parian marble. 
That there were employed in building it 
three Grand Masters; 3300 overseers, or 
masters of the work ; 80,000 Fellow Crafts, 
and 70,000 Entered Apprentices ; that seven 
years were occupied in its construction, during 
which time it rained not in the daytime, that 
the workmen might not be obstructed in their 
labor I" As the Masonic brethren never meet 
in daytime, they must have had many bad 
nights for meeting during that period. But 
where did they learn all this about the Tem- 
ple? Some little, perhaps, from Josephus; 
the time occupied in construction, from the 
Bible; but very singular that book should 
fail to notice the miracle of rain at night only 
for seven years. But this miracle in the 
honor of Freemasonry did not need Divine 
testimony to enable them to believe it. 

In the history of Masonry, as connected 
with the " Sublime degree of Master Mason," 
Hiram Abiff is represented as going daily into 
the Most Holy place, in the Temple of Solo- 
mon, for secret prayer ! Now every reader of 
the Bible knows that no one was allowed to 
enter the Most Holy place, except the High 
5 



50 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Priest, and he only once a year, with the blood 
of Atonement. Again, this Hiram is rep- 
resented as being " murdered by three ruf- 
fians, and buried six feet deep, perpendicular." 
Then Solomon is represented as raising him, 
by the Master's grip, " upon the five points 
of fellowship," which are, " foot to foot, knee 
to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and 
mouth to ear." Then they say Hiram was 
buried under the Most Holy place, in Solo- 
jnon's Temple, and a marble monument 
erected over him, and delineated upon it "A 
virgin weeping over a broken column, with a 
book open in her hand ; in her right hand 
a sprig of cassia, in her left an urn ; Time 
standing behind her, with his hands enfolded 
in the ringlets of her hair." (See "Webb, p. 81> 
and Mackey, p. 107.) Now this was a very 
pretty monument, and I am very sorry it 
was not preserved until the present day, for 
some Yankee Museum, that we might have 
seen it. 

But I would like to know where these very 
learned and sublime fellows learned this tragic 
story. I suppose this is one of their secrets, 
for Paul, in the 9th chapter of Hebrews, tells 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 51 

us what was in the Holy of Holies. But 
nothing is said about marble monument, weep- 
ing maiden, and sculptured Time. The Bible, 
elsewhere, gives a minute description of the 
size, form and ornaments of the Most Holy 
place, and all it contained, but nothing about 
the virgin, cassia, urn, or Time's hands in the 
ringlets. I fear the whole thing is no more 
reliable than the story of the farmer's crowing 
fowl and oxen. 

Another most wonderful story is, that one 
of the keystones of the Temple was missing, 
and Solomon causing search to be made for it, 
by means of certain initial letters used by 
Hiram, it was discovered ! What do you 
think these letters were? In Webb (p. 93) 
you will find a picture of the stone, with the 
letters on it. They are H. T.W. S. S. T. K. S. ! 

Among the trinkets of a Mark Master, 
I believe, you will still find something repre- 
senting this stone, with these English letters. 
And what do they mean ? " Hiram, Tyrian, 
Widow's Son, Sent To King Solomon ! " 

Here is a stupendous miracle, indeed ! 
This Hiram must have been a marvellous 
fellow, truly. Here we have him using 



52 SECRET SOCIETIES 

English initials, and writing good English, 
thousands of years before the English lan- 
guage had any existence. And, marvellous 
again, the Jews were able to read it as soon as 
they found it! Surely the pickaxe, shovel, 
and crowbar of Masonry has made revelations 
as valuable as Joe Smith's. 

Another of their ridiculous stories you will 
find by referring to Richardson's " Monitor " 
(p. 155). The substance is this: that the 
true name of Deity was revealed to Enoch ; 
that he engraved it on a golden triangle ; that 
after the days of Enoch the triangle with the 
name was lost ; that this was found by Free- 
masons, in digging for the foundation of Solo- 
mon's Temple ; that the vowel points (Hebrew 
scholars alone will understand this) were so 
arranged as to give the pronunciation thus : 
" Youho!" Thus pronounced, it is the Inef- 
fable word ! Here are vowel points that were 
never known till 600 or 800 of the Christian 
era, used by Enoch, and the name of God, 
with an arrangement and pronunciation that 
any Hebrew reader knows is absurd. Some 
ministers say Freemasonry helps them to un- 
derstand the Bible better ! Such lying legends 
must be a great help ! 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 53 

And some Masons have the audacity to 
assert that none but Masons yet know the true 
name of God ! And I suppose these minis- 
ters are helping to keep this name from all the 
rest of mankind ! A benevolent work, truly ! 
{See Carson, by Webb, 2d part.) 

The fact is, modern Speculative Freemasonry 
has about as much to do with Solomon's 
Temple and St. John the Baptist and St. John 
the Evangelist, as the stories of Baron Mun- 
chausen and the Arabian Nights have to do 
with real truth. Speculative Masonry, as it 
now exists, is never noticed by any historical 
writer, noble or ignoble, earlier than the 18th 
century, and the historical assertions of its 
advocates and eulogists are the grossest 

FABRICATIONS. 

Again, to represent that Freemasonry is 
founded on the Bible, is not only a perversion 
and profane use of the Scriptures, but false, 
according to Mackey's " Monitor " itself. On 
p. 53, he says : " To every Mason, whatever 
may be his peculiar religious creed, that revela- 
tion of Deity which is recognised by his religion 
becomes his trestle-board. Thus the trestle- 
board of the Jewish Mason is the Old Testa- 
5* 



54 SECRET SOCIETIES 

merit ; of the Christian Mason, the Old and 
the New ; of the Mohammedan Mason, the' Ko- 
ran." And are we not justified to run this 
further and say, the trestle-board of the Chi- 
nese Mason is the code of Confucius ; of the 
Mormon Mason, the revelations of Joe Smith, 
and of the Infidel Mason, who has no written 
revelation, the book of Nature, or Reason ? 
Then it is just as true to say that Masonry is 
founded on the Koran or Joe Smith's Book as 
on the Bible ; and, in its worship, the Christian 
honors Mohammed, or Joe Smith, as much as 
he honors Jesus Christ ! 

Should a Christian be connected with an 
Order founded on such principles, adminis- 
tered in such a spirit, and that so corrupts 
divine truth and history ? 

Steinbrenner, the great Masonic historian, 
of New York, after much research, says that 
Speculative Freemasonry dates no further back 
than 1717. You will find the new "Ameri- 
can Encyclopaedia " agrees with this statement, 
in its article on Freemasonry. 

Dr. Dalcho, who compiled the book of Con- 
stitutions for South Carolina, says : " Neither 
Adam, nor Noah, nor Nimrod, nor Moses, nor 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 55 

Joshua, nor David, nor Solomon, nor Hiram, 
nor St. John the Baptist, nor St. John the 
Evangelist, was a Freemason. There is no 
record, sacred or profane, to induce us to be- 
lieve that these holy men were Freemasons. 
To assert they were Freemasons, may make 
the vulgar stare ; but it will rather excite the 
contempt than the admiration of the wise." 

Remember, this is high Masonic authority, 
and many of their candid and honest writers 
agree with this statement. Yet, we see pro- 
fessedly intelligent men perpetuating this his- 
torical falsehood, by celebrating, as Masons, 
what they call St. John's Day. 

In the " Masonic Monthly," for October, 
1867, printed in Boston, the Editor, Mr. 
Evans, proves, from the highest authority, 
that Freemasonry is not older than 1717 ; that 
it then consisted probably of one degree ; that 
about 1725, Anderson, a Scotchman, in Lon- 
don, added two degrees. This monthly takes 
the ground, and sustains it, from their own 
authorities, that all the upper degrees of Ma- 
sonry are an imposture ; that they, therefore, 
corrupt history to establish their antiquity ! 
This is a sin and shame ! What a crime to 



56 SECRET SOCIETIES 

pollute the stream of historical knowledge, to 
render unreliable all the records of the past, 
to corrupt the testimony of the ages so that 
nothing beyond the living memory is secure ! 
It is a flagrant crime against literature, society, 
science, human progress, and happiness, which 
every lover of learning and history must con- 
demn. 



SELF-CONBEMNED. 57 



CHAPTER V. 

SECRECY. 

WE object to secrecy as a principle 
upon which to operate such Associa- 
tions. It is neither legitimate nor Scriptural. 
It is injurious to the development of the 
highest type of manly character. An Order 
that is founded upon a principle of such pro- 
found secrecy, that it must always meet at 
night, with darkened windows, and doors 
guarded with grips, signs, pass-words, and 
Tylers ; that durst not admit a woman to the 
Lodge, or trust her with secrets that must not 
be " written, printed, stamped, cut, stained, 
hewn, carved, indented, painted, or engraved, 
on anything movable or immovable, under 
the whole canopy of heaven," — such an Asso- 
ciation lays itself justly liable to the suspicion 
of honest men. 

But Mr. Grosch, in his " Odd-Fellows' 



58 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Manual," tells us (p. 60), " We have signs 
and tokens by which to know men, whether 
they are genuine Odd-Fellows, whether they 
are entitled to receive what they ask." If a 
poor fellow, out of work, unable to pay the 
fees, and his family in want, applies for help, 
inquiry is immediately commenced, and what 
for ? To know whether his is a case of real 
need, that has claims on charity ? Not at all ; 
but to determine whether he is a genuine Odd- 
Fellow ! If he can place the thumb of the 
right hand on the stomach, and span down, 
and press the third knuckle by the balls of 
the thumbs on right hands, and whisper cor- 
rectly Fides, Quiver, Moses, Record, or Aaron, 
then he is deserving. And all this is neces- 
sary, lest some poor fellow and his hungry 
family, who could not do and say all this, 
might get some help, and thus the benevolent 
Order be imposed on ! 

Suppose a needy person should apply to a 
Christian, or a Christian church, for help, 
and they should commence putting him 
through the span, thumb and knuckle per- 
formance, and the pronunciation of Tubal 
Cain, Shibboleth, and Zerubbabel, to deter- 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 59 

mine whether he was deserving, would not the 
infidel world and the devil laugh, when told 
these were the necessary guards of great- 
hearted charity against imposition ? Accord- 
ing to the teachings of Christ, when a case of 
need comes before a humane man or a Chris- 
tian, the inquiry is not, is he a Jew or a 
Samaritan, Methodist or United Presbyterian? 
but, first, Is it a case of need ? Second, Am 
I able to relieve it? Then it has claims 
upon me. And true charity needs no pledged 
secrecy, grips and pass-words to guard against 
imposition. 

But, on pp. 80 — 82, Mr. Grosch tells us, 
that the pecuniary benefits, works of charity, 
" are hardly a tithe of our aims and objects. 
The most important uses and aims of Odd- 
Fellowship are the imbuing of the minds of 
our brethren with proper conceptions of their 
powers and capacities, giving them just and 
practical views of their duties and responsi- 
bilities, exhibiting their dependence on God, 
and a knowledge and practice of the true 
fraternal relations between man and man." 
If this be true, is such useful, reforming, 
beneficent instruction to be kept secret from 



60 SECRET SOCIETIES 

the needy world ? Is such knowledge to be 
limited to an elect few ? 

If some poor fellow learn this knowledge 
of his duties and responsibilities, dependence 
on God, and fraternal relations to man, and 
be ennobled thereby, without " an appeal to 
heaven," or without putting his right hand on 
his left breast, and " solemnly promising never 
to communicate it," would God be dishonored, 
or the world injured? To say that secrecy is 
necessary to guard such teachings is worse 
than absurd. Such instructions are the right- 
ful inheritance of the race, which no man, or 
body of men, has any right to withhold 
from any. 

Again, Mr. Grosch thinks secrecy necessary 
to guard us against exposing those who "sub- 
mit to us for counsel, aid, admonition, rebuke, 
or punishment " (p. 59). But is it necessary 
to solemnly pledge a Christian to proper 
prudence in such matters ? The teachings of 
Christ and his own Christian conscience and 
heart impose proper prudence and tenderness 
in such a case. But it is said, every family 
has its secrets. Is this wrong ? Are they for 
this suspected by their neighbors ? To this I 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 6 1 

answer : a Masonic or Odd-Fellows' Lodge is 
not a family. A family is simply a parent or 
parents and their children ; and the privacy 
they use in respect to some personal or family 
matters is simply in obedience to delicacy or 
custom. It is properly privacy, not secrecy. 
No principle of secrecy is either taught or 
impos-ed in the family ; neither pledge, promise, 
nor oath binds them to conceal anything. 
Second, if a family were to invent signs, grips, 
and pass-words for concealment, and for com- 
municating together ; if they were to exact of 
every one coming under their roof a solemn 
oath or promise, that nothing heard or seen 
there should be made known, people would 
soon say, " something wrong in that family ! " 
Again, it is said, War could not be con- 
ducted without secrecy. Suppose we admit 
this, then we ask, Are these secret Orders at 
war with all the rest of society ? If not, there 
is no analogy. War is an unnatural state of 
society, and can furnish no authority for a 
condition of peace. The killing of men and 
burning of property may be allowable in war, 
but this does not make it right in time of 
peace. We are now speaking of habitual 
6 



62 SECRET SOCIETIES 

concealment, of operating large societies on the 
principle of habitual secrecy. Homicide, and 
some other acts that are generally criminal; 
may under particular circumstances be right. 
So the concealment of one's opinions or actions 
for special reasons may be right ; but habitual 
concealment, in individuals or associations, is 
in the common judgment of mankind suspi- 
cious and unjustifiable. If a church was to 
conduct its business habitually on this princi- 
ple, guarded by signs and pass-words, and 
solemn oaths, or promises of secrecy imposed 
upon its members, it would soon lose the con- 
fidence, and awaken the suspicion of all per- 
sons whose esteem is of any value, and of even 
Masons and Odd-Fellows themselves. 

Suppose the State Legislature or Congress 
should attempt to operate habitually on this 
principle, how long would the country endure 
it ? Insulted confidence and suspicion would 
compel an adjournment before six months. 
The abuse, and the liability to abuse, of this 
principle seem likely to work the entire 
abolition of Grand Juries in this country. 
The Governors of several of the States in 
their messages have advised this, and some 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 63 

of the Western States have already abolished 
them. The secrecy that envelops State diplo- 
macy has made it a corrupt and dangerous 
thing. Talleyrand has well expressed the 
duplicity and equivocation of diplomatists in 
the terse sentence : " The design of language 
is to conceal one's thoughts." 

As a general thing, all secret associations 
are formed for the purpose of evading the 
laws, or giving their members some advantage 
against their fellow-men ; and scarcely a gov- 
ernment in the Old World but has been 
shaken by them. And our fathers, in the 
establishment of this free Republic, showed 
clearly they were jealous of them, and sought 
to remove, and we believe did remove all 
occasion and apology for them. Yet here are 
Orders numbering hundreds of thousands, 
bound together by most solemn oaths or 
promises, and guarded by impenetrable secrecy 
as a principle, which is certainly capable of 
being used for sinister and wicked purposes. 
And we believe they have already been so 
used. 

We do not doubt that good men may be 
connected with them, but they are indeed like 



64 SECRET SOCIETIES 

no other associations on earth if they have no 
corrupt and designing men adhering to them ; 
this no one believes, and he is deceived and 
simple indeed, who thinks that concealed 
power in such hands is not dangerous. And 
what is the apology for it in this land? In 
lands where the only law was power and 
tyranny, and where robbery and oppression 
imperilled every right and possession of man, 
there might have been an apology for secret 
fraternities; but what right or possession is 
not secured and protected to rich and poor, 
high and low in this land ? Equal rights and 
privileges are guaranteed to every American 
citizen, unless forfeited by crime. 

Such associations are a reflection on the 
government and community where they exist, 
virtually saying to mankind, you are so dis- 
honest and cunning we have to guard our- 
selves most carefully against you ; or so weak, 
as Webb would have it, that we cannot induce 
you to seek that which is valuable, without 
working on your curiosity, through mystery. 

Some of these societies profess to be in pos- 
session of knowledge essential to the well- 
being of mankind, both for this life and the 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 65 

next ; yet this good is forever shut in from 
more than half the human race, and the re- 
mainder, if they desire it, can obtain it only 
by passing through grips, pass-words and 
guards, by paying a heavy fee, and solemnly 
swearing or promising never to communicate 
the precious blessing to any destitute soul out- 
side of the Order ! Surely this is keeping the 
keys of knowledge safely, and shutting their 
kingdom of heaven against men, but especially 
women, and making their elect choice indeed. 
Again, to adopt secrecy as a principle of life 
action, is "a perversion of a plain law of our 
being," and injurious to manliness and moral 
character. Men everywhere associate the idea 
of truth and goodness with frank openness 
and unrestricted publicity, while the idea of 
" something wrong " is always connected with 
habitual concealment. " Take a child, or any 
number of children (says Rev. Chamberlain), 
you will see no other operation of the human 
mind on this point, until it has been perverted 
i by the practice or example of evil/" Why 
all that perfect ingenuousness, that unreserved 
openness of thought, feeling, and act of the 
child? He tells everything he knows to 
6* 



66 SECRET SOCIETIES 

everybody he sees — and why? Simply be- 
cause he has not yet any distinct idea but 
that all he does, and all everybody else does, 
is all right ; hence there is not a single im- 
pulse in his whole being that moves him in 
the least to concealment. But as soon as 
concealment becomes habitual with the child, 
secrecy a principle of action, you begin to 
doubt and suspect the child, you painfully 
feel the truth that he is growing evil. When 
you see a man with a free, open countenance, 
presenting his principles unreservedly to the 
world, making known his plans for his own 
or the public good to every one he meets, if 
asked your judgment, you say he is an honest, 
sincere man. But let him adopt the principle 
of secrecy, and whenever questioned on busi- 
ness, society, politics or religion, scud into his 
shell like a snail or a terrapin, you instinc- 
tively feel he does not possess manly frank- 
ness ; he soon comes to have a close-mouthed 
impression on his face, a restless suspicious 
vigilance in the eye, as if he was soured 
against mankind by treachery, or had a con- 
spiracy in his soul that needed careful keepipg. 
No man can adopt concealment as a life 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 67 

principle, or habitually practise it, in any 
relation or business of life, without injury to 
some of the noblest and most valuable traits 
of manhood. Foundation principles that need 
no concealment, and fear no investigation, 
actions clear and bright as daylight ; and un- 
disguised, fearless, and frank avowal and de- 
fence of tenets, are essential to the development 
of a high-toned manly Christian character. 

The example of Christ, and the teach- 
ings of the Bible from beginning to end are 
against secrecy as a life-principle of action. 
The Lord, by Isaiah xxix. 15, says "Woe 
unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel 
from the Lord, and their works are in the 
dark ; and they say, who seeth us ? and who 
knoweth us?" Our Saviour says (John 
xviii. 20), " I spake openly to the world ; I 
ever taught in the synagogue whither the 
Jews always resort, and in secret have I said 
nothing." Again, our Saviour says (John 
iii. 20, 21), " For every one that doeth evil , 
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, 
le»t his deeds should be reproved. But he 
that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his 
dc*>.ds may be made manifest that they are 



68 SECRET SOCIETIES 

wrought in God." In Eph. v. 11, 12, Paul, 
speaking of some secret mysteries, says, "And 
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works 
of darkness, but rather reprove them ; for it 
is a shame to speak of those things that are 
done of them in secret." (See Mackey, p. 56.) 
These passages most unequivocally con- 
demn secrecy as a principle in the management 
of any association. If the doings of these 
associations in their night meetings are good, 
they disobey Christ in hiding them; for he 
commands to let good deeds be seen to the 
glory of God the Father. If bad, they are 
condemned by Him, whether done at night or 
in daylight. We believe such secret Orders, 
from the Ku-Klux, up or down, which you 
please, to the highest or lowest, are a reflection 
upon a just and free government, and danger- 
ous to its peace and purity. They are a 
reflection upon the honesty of the community 
where they exist. Their secrecy as a principle 
. of action is a violation of a law of our being, 
injurious to manly Christian character, and 
condemned by the teaching of the Divine Word. 
This is another reason we as a church hold a 
testimony against them. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 69 



CHAPTER VI. 

UNCHRISTIAN AND TJNEEPUBLICAN TITLES. 

THEIR Titles are unrepublican, pompous, 
and sinful. The United States are sup- 
posed to have established a government that 
disapproved of all caste and titles of rank, 
from Sovereign down; and the American 
people are supposed to set little value in the 
empty pompous names of King, Prelate, 
Priest, Duke, Knight, and Master; yet the 
Masons and Odd-Fellows can eclipse the 
Pope of Rome, the Czar of Russia, and the 
Sublime Porte of Turkey in conferring titles, 
giddy in heights of majesty, and of awful 
grandeur. They can " out-Herod Herod," 
and leave no name by which the Almighty 
may be distinguished from mortals. A list 
of their dignitaries and distinctions is almost 
crushing. The Odd-Fellows have their officers 
that are Grand, and Noble Grand, and Right 



70 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Worthy Grand Lodge, Most Worthy Grand 
Master, Right Worthy Grand Secretary, 
Right Worthy Grand Treasurer, Right 
Worthy Grand Chaplain, etc. Then the 
Masons spread and soar in Grand Tyler, 
Grand Steward, Grand Treasurer, and Grand 
Secretary. Their Lodge is Grand and Most 
Worshipful Grand. Then, of course, they 
have a Grand Lecturer, Grand Junior and 
Senior Deacons, Grand Master of Ceremonies, 
Grand Marshal, Grand Chaplain, Worshipful 
Grand Junior and Senior Wardens, Right 
Worshipful Deputy Grand Master, Most 
Worshipful Grand Master, General Grand 
Royal Arch Chapter, Excellent General 
Grand Marshal, Excellent General Grand 
Chaplain, Excellent General Grand Treasurer, 
Excellent General Grand Secretary, Most 
Excellent General Grand Scribe, Most Ex- 
cellent General Grand King, Most Excellent 
General Grand High Priest, and Most Excel- 
lent Prelate. Then the Grand Encampment 
and other grades have their Worshipful Grand 
Sword Bearer, Worshipful Grand Standard 
Bearer, Worshipful Grand Marshal, Worship- 
ful Grand Recorder, Worshipful Grand Trea- 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 7 1 

surer, Worshipful Grand Wardens, Worshipful 
Grand Generalissimo, Worshipful General 
Grand Master, and Thrice Illustrious Grand 
Puissant. Then there are the Knights of 
Tuton, Knights of Calatrava, Knights of 
Alcantara, Knights of Eedemption, Knights 
of Christ, Knights of the Mother of Christ, 
Knights of the Holy Ghost, Knights of Laza- 
rus, Knights of the Star, Knights of the 
Band, Knights of the Annunciation of the 
Virgin Mary, Knights of St. Michael, Knights 
of St. Stephen. We cannot possibly imagine 
what grand titles exalt the officers of these 
grades, or that of the Thrice Illustrious, Most 
Worshipful General Grand Patriotic Knights 
of the Ku-Klux. The titles of these we are 
unable to give. 

But the array is surely awful enough 
already to stun republican ears, and to appal 
humble Christian hearts. If the books of the 
different Orders did not give the initials and 
many of these titles in full, it might be 
thought this collection of grand and royal 
noblesse was only a ridiculous caricature. It 
is hardly credible that intelligent men are vain 
and childish enough to covet and wear such 



72 SECRET SOCIETIES 

pompous appellations, yet they parade them as 
ostentatiously as though they conferred real 
merit and honor. Take a ten-year-old boy, 
put a gilded paper crown on his head, a 
painted wooden sceptre in his hand, a leather 
girdle, with brass buckle and chain, and tin 
horn attached, around his waist, and he strides 
as royally as a Knight of the Garter, or a Per- 
sian Monarch ; and a very likeness to this are 
some of the highest rank of these Orders, 
with their lamb-skin aprons, tinsel regalia, 
their square, compass, and triangle trinkets, 
and grand titles. 

But all this is not simply ridiculous tom- 
foolery. To republican and Christian minds 
it has a serious, because a sinful, aspect. In 
the Word of Christ the Christian is taught 
neither to be called Master, nor to call any 
man Master. Yet, if the Christian connects 
with a Grand Lodge, he must, in obedience to 
a sinful mortal, the Grand Marshal, accept 
another sinful mortal as his Grand Master, 
and call him such. If the Christian becomes 
such an officer, he must not only be called 
Master y but Grand Master, and Worshipful, 
and Worshipful Grand Master ! And, on the 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 73 

principles of the universal brotherhood, and 
equality of religions and nationalities in the 
Order, he may be required to address to an 
Infidel, Arab, Indian, Turk, Chinaman, or 
Jew, those titles that belong to his Divine Mas- 
ter alone ! This is not only anti-republican, but 
in direct violation of the teachings of Christ. 
Is any being but God Most Excellent? Yet, 
Masons entitle many of their officers Most 
Excellent, equal to Jehovah ! In the true 
meaning of the word Worshipful, no being is 
such, except the Divine One. Yet, the Ma- . 
sons apply this to their Master and even to 
their Lodge ! 

This is nearly akin to superstition and 
idolatry. Certainly, God alone is Almighty ! 
Yet, Masons have their Thrice Illustrious and 
Grand Puissant, and their Thrice Potent 
Grand Master ! Most Christians believe that 
God alone is perfect. Yet, Masons have a 
Grand Lodge of Perfection, and Grand, Elect, 
Perfect, and Sublime Masons ! No higher 
official title is applied to Christ, in the Scrip- 
tures, than " Great High Priest." Yet, Ma- 
sons have not only a Grand High Priest, but a 
Most Excellent General Grand High Priest ! 
7 



74 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Unless the Ten Commandments are abol- 
ished, I cannot see how a Christian can give 
and receive such titles, and think himself 
" guiltless." Even if the decalogue was abro- 
gated, yet an American citizen and a Christian, 
with the New Testament in his hand, has 
enough to forbid him to receive or apply such 
titles. They are undemocratic, and contrary 
to the first principles of Christianity. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 75 



CHAPTER VII. 

INITIATION, AND THE OBLIGATIONS IM- 
POSED. 

~T~YT"E object to Christians connecting with 
V V these Orders, because the pledges, pro- 
mises, obligations, or oaths, imposed in initia- 
tion are ensnaring, unscriptural, and sinful. I 
know Grosch says Odd-Fellowship is not an 
oath-bound secret society. Yet, he speaks of 
u an appeal to heaven ; " and the form of obli- 
gation, by those who have taken it, is said to 
be as follows : Placing the right hand upon 
the left breast, the candidate says, "I, A. B., 
in the presence of the brothers now assembled, 
do solemnly promise, etc., to the true and faith- 
ful performance of all which I pledge my 
sacred honor." This, to a Christian, has all 
the binding force of an oath. 

But suppose we admit that neither Odd- 
Fellows nor Masons, in any of the degrees, 



76 SECRET SOCIETIES 

take fearful oaths, with horrid penalties an- 
nexed ; suppose we admit that the Knight of 
Malta does not take the fifth libation of wine 
from a human skull, taking upon his soul all 
the guilt of the departed soul, if he fail to 
keep the oath; or that the Knights of the Chris- 
tian Mark do not call an anathema upon their 
souls; suppose we admit that none of the 
Masonic oaths contain such sentences as 
" whether right or wrong," " treason and mur- 
der excepted," or "treason and murder not ex- 
cepted" (these things, it is known, are charged 
and confirmed by the sworn testimony of men 
as truthful, respectable, and intelligent, as 
perhaps ever testified before a jury) ; but sup- 
pose we admit all these charges to be untrue, 
yet enough remains in the known manner of 
initiation, and in the obligations imposed, to 
forbid any free, intelligent, or Christian man 
submitting to it. 

Before the candidate can know anything 
taught or practised in the Order, or what will 
be required of him, he must solemnly promise, 
or affirm, to keep all made known to him, or 
required of him, a profound secret! The 
Lord teaches us (Prov. xx. 25) : "It is a 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 7 7 

snare to a man who devoureth that which is 
holy, and after vows, to make inquiry/' Yet 
this is just what the candidate is required 
to do. 

He need not inquire, for he will not be in- 
formed, what the laws and usages of the Order 
are, or what will be required of him, until he 
takes the vow upon his soul. Then he may 
find out what the obligation imposes, and 
whether, in his judgment, right or wrong. 
That is, after vows having ensnared his soul, 
he may make inquiry. 

I know a Presbyterian minister who said, 
when he united with the Masons, he deter- 
mined to leave as soon as he found anything 
unlawful, wrong, or injurious ! As if that 
would free him from the sin of ensnaring his 
soul, " by pronouncing, with an oath, to do 
good or to do evil, and it be hid from him " 
(Lev. v. 4). 

It is an insult to the manhood and intelli- 
gence of a man to ask him to bind himself 
to keep secret that of which you keep him 
in ignorance ! 

According to Webb's " Monitor " (p. 34), 
the candidate must declare " he will cheerfully 



78 SECRET SOCIETIES 

conform to all the ancient established usages 
and customs of the fraternity ! " Yet what 
these usages and customs may require of him, 
he knows nothing. 

Grosch, in his " Odd-Fellows 7 Manual " (p. 
91), directs the candidate : " Give yourself 
passively to your guides, to lead you whither- 
soever they will." 

Who that has any self-respect, intelligence, 
and freedom of spirit, would submit himself 
passively to any fallible mortal, to lead him 
into promises (and oaths). 

Again (p. 378), Grosch gives the obligation 
of the candidate, thus : " If admitted, I 
promise obedience to the usages and laws of 
the Order and of the Lodge." Yet he knows 
not what the Order or Lodge may command ; 
but, as blindly as any papist or pagan, he has 
bound his soul to obey according to the judg- 
ment of others. 

But, you say, before he goes in, he will be 
assured that there is nothing wrong. Ah ! 
then he is to promise, or swear, according to 
some other person's assurance, not his own 
judgment. Is this becoming an intelligent 
freeman ? 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 79 

Suppose he is told that there is nothing 
"to interfere with his religion or politics." 
That was in the opinion of somebody else. 
Then suppose he goes in, taking the oath of 
concealment, and finds, in his opinion, that 
there is something that interferes with his 
politics and religion ; but he is met with the 
suggestion, You have sworn without reserva- 
tion, to " the ancient usages and customs," and 
promised " obedience to the laws of the Order 
and Lodge," and cannot go back ! But sup- 
pose he has an opinion that it is his duty to 
God and man to reveal and not conceal ! 
But he has no right to an opinion ! He has 
sold his conscience to others. He is no longer 
a freeman ; he is " snared with the words of 
his mouth ! " 

The strong language of Hon. William H. 
Seward on this subject is but reasonable and 
just. He says: "Secret societies, sir! Be- 
fore I would place my hand between the hands 
of other men, in a secret lodge, order, class, or 
council, and, bending on my knee before them, 
enter into combination with them for any ob- 
ject, personal or political, good or bad, I 
would pray God, that that hand and that 



80 SECRET SOCIETIES 

knee might be paralysed, and that I might 
become an object of pity, and even the 
mockery of my fellow-men. Swear, sir ! I, 
a man, an American citizen, a Christian, swear 
to submit myself to the guidance and direc- 
tion of other men, surrender my own judg- 
ment to their judgments, and my own con- 
science to their keeping ! No, no, sir ! I 
know quite well the fallibility of my own 
judgment, and my liability to fall into error 
and temptation. But my life has been spent 
in breaking the bonds of the slavery of men. 
I, therefore, know too well the danger of con- 
fiding power to irresponsible hands, to make 
myself a willing slave." 

This is the earnest language of one of the 
shrewdest and most penetrating of American 
statesmen. He saw clearly the unrepublican 
character and danger of such secret combina- 
tions. 

Again : Such a promise, pledge, or oath, is 
clearly contrary to Scripture teaching. In 
Jeremiah iv. 2, and elsewhere, we are taught 
to swear by the Lord in "truth and in judg- 
ment." But promising, or swearing, to con- 
ceal, a man knows not what, is swearing 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 81 

neither in " truth " nor "judgment," but in 
the most slavish blindness and sinful igno- 
rance. In the language of Paul, such persons 
(1 Tim. i. 7) " understand neither what they 
say nor whereof they affirm." 

Is an oath or promise such a light or trivial 
thing as to be taken carelessly and ignorantly ? 
If the secrets of Freemasonry, Odd-Fellow- 
ship, and kindred Orders, are not of great im- 
portance, such swearing is taking the name of 
God in vain. If they are of such importance 
and influence as to require the seal of an oath 
of secrecy, then they are not such as a Chris- 
tian and patriot should swear to forever 
conceal. 

Solomon says : " Be not rash with thy 
mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to 
utter anything before God ; for God is in 
heaven and thou upon earth ; therefore, let thy 
words be few " (Eccl. v. 2). But to swear or 
promise to keep, a man knows not what, and 
to obey customs, usages, and laws of which he 
is totally ignorant, is surely to be rash with 
the mouth, and a hasty utterance of the heart 
before God. 

Again: It is contrary to sound morality 



82 SECRET SOCIETIES 

for any one thus to bind himself. He may 
have the testimony of others that there is 
nothing wrong in "the mysteries;" but he 
dare not promise or swear on the testimony of 
others. God gave him a judgment and con- 
science of his own to guide him in such things 
and he is responsible for the use or abuse of 
these. He cannot allow the Pope, or even 
the Church of" Christ, to decide duty and 
right for him. He must accept the responsi- 
bility the Lord has laid upon him, according 
to the divine rule he has given him. How 
does he know but that the things he is swear- 
ing forever to conceal, are such that it may be 
his duty, when they are known, to declare 
them to the Church, his country, and the 
world? Then the Scriptures clearly teach 
that he is ensnared in sin. (See Lev. v. 
4,5.) 

If you wish a man to keep a secret, treat 
him like a man. Give him credit for good 
sense enough to know what should be con- 
cealed, and honor enough to keep it. Do not 
ask him to surrender his conscience and judg- 
ment, like an ignoramus and a slave, to you. 
If he has neither good sense nor honor, do 
not trust him. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 83 

The whole process of initiation is offensive 
to true freedom and manliness; is unscrip- 
tural, and in violation of sound morals. 
Therefore, we say a Christian should not sub- 
mit to it. 



84 SECRET SOCIETIES 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ARE THEY BENEVOLENT AND CHARITABLE ? 

"TTTE object to Christians connecting 
V V w ith these Orders, because a most un- 
christian selfishness is manifest in the bestow- 
ment of their privileges, and because their 
boastful claims to benevolence and charity are 
false. 

The ceremony of dedicating a Masonic 
Lodge is the following (Webb, p. 132) : "The 
Grand Master sprinkles oil upon the Lodge, 
saying: 'In the name of the whole Fra- 
ternity, I do solemnly dedicate this Hall to 
Universal Benevolence.' " 

The language used in dedicating an Odd- 
Fellows' Hall is(Grosch, p. 356) : "In the 
name of the Great Creator of the Universe, 
we dedicate this Hall to. the purposes of Be- 
nevolence and Charity" 

Mackey (p. 44), says : " A Lodge, syro 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 85 

bolically, is said to extend from East to West, 
and from North to South ; in height, from 
earth to highest heavens ; in depth, from the 
surface to the centre, to denote the universality 
of Masonry, and to teach us that a Mason's 
charity should be equally extensive!" 

Moore, in his " Masonic Constitutions " (p. 
80), says : " Masonic charity is as broad as 
the mantle of heaven, and co-extensive with 
the world/' 

These are surely high, wide, deep, grand 
claims, if true (?) The Right Worthy Grand 
Representative of Odd-Fellowship, Boylston, 
in his oration delivered in New York, April 
26th, 1859, declares Odd-Fellowship is "most 
generally known and commended by its chari- 
ties." We might fill pages with windy trum- 
petings of their charities ; but we forbear, and 
proceed to show that these claims are not 
true. 

The conditions on which members are re- 
ceived is an evidence against their beneficence. 
All women are excluded from the benefits and 
valuable privileges of these Orders, if they 
have any. Odd-Fellows have a degree of 
Rebekah, to which women are admitted. This, 



86 SECRET SOCIETIES 

however, is not beneficiary. It will be noticed 
hereafter. Mackey (p. 217) teaches us, that 
" no women can become members ! " Moore 
(p. 145) says : " The rituals and ceremonies of 
the Order forbid the presence of women. The 
law proclaiming her exclusion is as unrepeal- 
able as that of the Medes and Persians." 
Ceremonies that are of such a character, in a 
benevolent association, as to utterly forbid the 
presence of women, are certainly of doubtful 
purity and propriety for Christian men. 

Here then is about one-half the human race 
shut out! Suppose the Church should do 
this, and then proclaim its " charity, broad as 
the mantle of heaven, and co-extensive with 
the boundaries of the world," what would the 
world think ? I will not profess to give the 
reason for this exclusion, but just remind you 
of a fact, that the largest number of those 
who require material help, charity, in this 
world, are women and children. Masonry, 
as such, is pretty well guarded against these. 
(In another place I will notice what they do 
for wives and children of members.) 

Again : All negroes are excluded from 
Freemasonry. If any of you will get a paper 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 87 

entitled the American Freemason, edited by 
Robert Morris, Knight Templar, you will 
find a series of articles adopted by the Grand 
Lodge of the State of New York, and highly 
lauded by this editor. Article First (in the 
number for 8th of April, 1854)#says, " It is not 
proper to initiate into our Lodges persons of 
the negro race." And among other reasons 
given are these : " Not being, as a general 
thing, free bom, their depressed social condi- 
tion, and their very seldom being persons who 
have any trade, estate, office, occupation, or 
visible way of acquiring an honest livelihood ! " 
In other words, they are not rich enough to 
be members of a benevolent institution. He 
may be talented, learned, a Christian, and all 
that is great and good ; but the fact of his 
" depressed social condition," and that he can- 
not prove " he is free born, and that he has 
some estate, office, or means of support," must 
exclude him from this most " moral and be- 
nevolent Order ! " Suppose the Church should 
adopt such a law, what would the world say ? 
What would Masons say ? Some denomina- 
tions, if they did not adopt such a law, prac- 
tised upon it as unwritten law, and justly fell 



88 SECEET SOCIETIES 

under the odium and denunciation of all 
lovers of liberty and Christianity. 

The second series in these articles rejects all 
African Lodges in North America. " Because 
all such Lodges (they say) are clandestine, and 
without legal authority." The Grand Sachem 
or Supreme Pontiff did not give them his 
blessing ! I know, since the abolition of 
slavery, there has been some cheap, windy 
fussing and idle fuming about cancelling such 
laws, but no definite action has ever been 
taken. 

Since the abolition of slavery, negroes 
have so far imitated the whites as to form 
Lodges; but the benevolent, universally be- 
nevolent, of the white brotherhood, founded 
on " the Fatherhood of God and the Brother- 
hood of man " (Grosch, p. 80), hold no fellow- 
ship with their black brethren ! They can 
denounce as bigots the "hair-splitting sects 
and Christians divided by mountains and 
streams/' but here the thickness of a black skin 
is an impassable barrier. 

Again : They exclude all old men in their 
dotage, all young men in their nonage, and all 
maimed or deformed persons. Candidates 



SELF-COXDEMNED. 89 

must be " physically perfect." You may, I 
admit, possibly find persons in the Lodges 
maimed in some way; but if they were so 
when admitted, the laws of the institution 
were violated. I quote first from a Masonic 
paper, known as The Landmark, edited by 
Hon. D. E. Sickles, one of the Grand High- 
Priests. In the issue, dated " New York, 
August 6th, 1870/' on the " Powers of a 
Grand Master," he says : " Some maintain 
that a maimed man may be made a Mason by 
dispensation of the Grand Master. This is an 
error. Can a Grand Master make a Mason 
out of a murderer or thief? No. Whence 
then is his power to make Masons out of 
maimed men? It may be said that moral 
maiming in the one case is more objectionable 
than the physical maiming in the other. But 
this is not sufficient. No Grand Master has 
any rights but those vested in him by his 
installation ; and this is not one of them. A 
maimed or dismembered person in such a 
condition, prior to his being made a Mason 
is a record and public posting of the sin of 
those who made him" (a Mason, I suppose, he 
means). "And has a Grand Master any right 
8* 



90 SECRET SOCIETIES 

to afflict a Lodge locally, or the brethren 
generally, with such an exhibition ? We are 
convinced he has not," This is the " Voice 
of Masonry ! " 

Again, I refer you to the Masonic Consti- 
tutions, published by authority of the Grand 
Lodge of Ohio, Articles 3 and 4. Next I 
quote from Moore, Editor of the Masonic 
Heview. In his "Ancient Charges and Regu- 
lations of Freemasonry" (p. 143), he says: 
" Masonry requires candidates for its honors 
to have been free by birth. No taint of 
slavery or dishonor must rest upon their 
origin." On p. 152, he says: "A candidate 
for Masonry must be physically perfect. As 
under the Jewish economy, no person who 
was maimed or defective in his physical organ- 
ism, though of the tribe of Aaron, could enter 
upon the office of a priest, and no physically 
defective animal be offered in sacrifice; so no 
man who is not perfect in his bodily organiza- 
tion, can legally be made a Mason. Moore 
further says : " We have occasionally met with 
men having but one arm or one leg, who had 
in that condition been made a Mason ! This 
is entirely illegal, so utterly at variance with 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 91 

a law tvhich every Mason is bound lo obey 
that it seems almost incredible, yet it is true/' 

There can be no doubt that, according to 
Masonic law, no maimed person can be made 
a Mason. In Moore's "Constitutions" you 
•will find Art. 2d reads thus : " If a brother 
should be a rebel against the State, the loyal 
brotherhood cannot expel him from the 
Lodge, and his relation to it remains inde- 
feasible." 

So it seems that deforming the soul with 
the crime of rebellion — it may be treason, 
murderous rebellion and treason — does not 
disqualify for membership; but the body 
maimed in suppressing this rebellion, and de- 
fending the life of the State against this trea- 
son, unfits for entering this most moral Order 
of world-wide benevolence ! Rebel Masons 
may enjoy undisturbed communion, and the 
widows and orphans of rebel Masons, slain in 
battle, or justly executed on the scaffold, may 
receive the benefits of the benevolent Order ; 
but patriot soldiers, maimed in battle for their 
country, cannot lawfully become members, 
and their widows and children must be left to 
the charity of the "ignorant and prejudiced" 



92 SECRET SOCIETIES 

outsiders ! We do not complain of rebels' 
widows and orphans receiving aid ; but we do 
object to such an unchristian law of member- 
ship. 

Again : I quote from the " Constitution 
of the Odd-Fellows' Grand Lodge of Ohio/' 
This requires that the candidate for member- 
ship must be " a free white person, possessed 
of some known means of support, and free 
from all infirmity or disease." 

" A Digest of the Laws of the I. O. O. F. 
of Pennsylvania/' third edition, 1869, says (p. 
69) : " A Lodge has no right to initiate a per- 
son they know to be diseased." Also (p. 17), 
it says : " Not entitled to benefits when sickness 
originates from a disease to which he was sub- 
ject previous to, or at the time of his admis- 
sion ! " Must be sound. 

Virtually, the same qualifications are re- 
quired by the laws and constitution of the 
Ancient Order of Good Fellows, Improved 
Order of Red Men, United Ancient Order of 
Druids, and similar secret orders. 

Now, let us see who all are excluded from 
the "benevolent benefits;" all women are ex- 
cluded; all old men in their dotage; all 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 93 

young men in their nonage ; all who have no 
visible means of support ; all slaves, and 
all freeclmen if born in slavery; the man 
who has lost an eye ; the man who has lost a 
hand ; the man who has lost a foot ; the man 
on whose birth any taint of dishonor rests ; 
the man who is, in any way, imperfect in body, 
is excluded. 

No matter how good, wise, and patriotic 
such persons are, they are excluded. No mat- 
ter, though the man lost a hand, foot, or eye, 
in defence of country and liberty, yet by law 
he is excluded. All persons known to be 
diseased, and all widows and orphans are ex- 
cluded ! 

When all their boasted advantages and be- 
nevolence is securely guarded against all these 
classes, there are certainly very few left that 
can become a charge to them. For remember, 
their benevolence, as an Order, is confined to 
their members. 

We do not say that no members of these 
orders aid any persons outside. We doubt 
not, many of them are large-hearted and 
liberal in helping all classes of the needy that 
come to their knowledge. But we do say, the 



94 SECRET SOCIETIES 

teachings and laws of their Order do not re- 
quire them to go beyond members, and do not 
allow funds in the treasury of the Lodge to be 
paid out for any but members in good stand- 
ing. And, even towards members, they are 
unequal and unjust in their kindness and 
charities. 

We learn from "Webb's " Monitor" (p. 132), 
and from Mackey's " Monitor " (p. 200), that 
no member can be buried with funeral cere- 
monies and Masonic honors unless he has 
reached the third, or Master's degree. They 
both say, " from this restriction there can be 
no exception." Fellowcrafts and Apprentices 
are not allowed to attend Masonic processions 
on such occasions, neither are they entitled to 
relief from the charity fund ! So says the 
" Masonic Constitutions," by Grand Lodge of 
Ohio (p. 39). 

They may have paid their initiation fee, all 
dues and assessments, fully and punctually ; 
may be upright, wise, and in good standing in 
.every way; but why they are not worthy of 
fraternal kindness and honor at death, or why 
their wives and children are unworthy of re- 
lief from the fund, I cannot tell. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 95 

Again : If they are in " arrears for dues " 
for a certain length of time, in case of sickness 
or disability, they can receive nothing ; in case 
of death, nothing for funeral expenses, or to 
relieve wife and children, however destitute 
they may be. He may have contributed to 
the fund for years ; but now, neither he nor 
his can receive anything ! Why ? He has 
been, for a certain length of time, in " arrears 
for dues!" 

Grosch, in his " Monitor" (pp. 198, 199), 
says: "The philosopher's stone is found by 
the Odd-Fellow in three words — Pay in ad- 
vance ! There are few old members of the 
Order who cannot relate some case of peculiar 
hardship, caused by non-payment of dues. 
Some good, but careless brother, who neglected 
this small item of duty until he was suddenly 
called out of this life, was found to be not 
beneficial, and his widow and orphans, when 
most in need, were left destitute of all legal 
claims on the fund he had for years been aid- 
ing to accumulate" 

This is charity with a witness, if you pay 
for it ! It is not only not charity, but it bor- 
ders very close on robbery. Christian justice 



96 SECRET SOCIETIES 

would have said the man had a right to a 
share in "the fund to which he had con- 
tributed, perhaps for years." So had his wife 
and children, and justice could have taken no 
more from his share than his deficient dues. 
True charity abhors injustice. Bat you say 
if a member, not in arrears, is sick or disabled, 
does he not get a relief of several dollars a 
week? Yes; but why call it a charity? He 
is only getting his own, and perhaps a very 
small part of that ; and whether he be worth 
fifty thousand, or only fifty dollars, he can 
draw this relief; and it comes alike from the 
abundance of the richest, and the scant earn- 
ings of the poorest. This is very much like 
taking from the poor to give to the rich. 
Solomon says such " shall surely come to 
want." 

But in the case of a sick member, do they 
not watch with him, and nurse him ? And, in 
case of his death, do they not appropriate 
thirty dollars, or some such sum, for funeral 
expenses, and give the widow fifteen or thirty 
dollars, or something like that? Yes; and 
this they ought to have done. 

But why did they do this ? Was it because 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 97 

Christ commanded it, and because the love 
which the sick man and his family had a right 
to expect of them, as men and Christians, re- 
quired it ? Not at all. They did it because 
compelled by the law of their Order, and " that 
it might be so done to them" in return. 
They were practising but simple justice, in 
fulfilling a contract into which they had en- 
tered, to nurse the man and give him relief. 
If the man needed nursing, and his family 
needed help, according to the teachings and 
spirit of Christ he should have received it, 
though he had never contributed a cent to 
any fund. 

We do not object to the care of the sick and 
relief for the needy (frequently it is not the 
needy that get it) ; but we do object to doing 
it by contract, and giving the relief out of the 
man's own earnings, then calling this charity 
or benevolence, and parading it before the w^orld 
to the glory of the Order, as more Christian 
than the Church of Christ. 

A Savings Bank might more justly publish 

its operations as Christian charity. The 

poorest in the Lodge pays to the fund the 

same amount as the richest; the wealthiest, 

9 



98 SECEET SOCIETIES 

when sick, can draw out as much as the 
poorest, and the " unworthy " brother, in 
"arrears," can draw nothing for himself or 
family. 

Whether these regulations are unjust, is not 
now the question ; but we say it is a cheat to 
call such operations charity. We are not ob- 
jecting to Savings Banks, or Mutual Insurance 
Companies, or to equal stockholders receiving 
equitable dividends and profits. 

Suppose we admit that men may form them- 
selves into an association for mutual assist- 
ance; that they may bargain to help each 
other in case of sickness or want ; and that, 
in case of death, the families of deceased mem- 
bers shall be relieved ; that they may make 
laws to exclude from benefits, members who 
fall in " arrears," or who do not pay their dues 
regularly; and that none but members and 
their families shall share in the fund; and 
that they may make laws to exclude from 
membership all that are diseased, all colored 
men, all freedmen, all old men, all minors, all 
women, all infirm and maimed persons, and 
all who have no visible means of sup- 
port. Suppose persons have a right to asso- 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 99 

ciate themselves together on such exclusive, 
selfish principles, have they any right to tack 
" Worthy, Worshipful, and Grand " to their 
officers, a few Scripture names and phrases, 
and a religious ritual to their ceremonies, and 
then call their operations Christian charity 
and benevolence? This is committing a 
fraud under pompous titles and high-sounding 
phrases and professions. 

What charity is there in men binding them- 
selves to help each other, and leaving out the 
poor, old, and maimed, to suffer with cold and 
hunger ? Is there any benevolence in that ? 
But you do not mean to say that members of 
secret orders do not help the poor and maimed 
outside ? Certainly not ! Doubtless many of 
them, as individuals, give generously, but as 
associations they do not ; neither do their prin- 
ciples inculcate such benevolence. 

Many individual bankers and brokers are 
very kind and liberal to the disabled and 
needy ; yet that does not prove that banks 
and brokers' offices are charitable institutions. 
Fisk is said to have been very generous to 
those in distress ; but that does not prove that 
the Erie Railroad Company, of which he was 



100 SECRET SOCIETIES 

an influential member ; was a benevolent asso- 
ciation. 

Men in all such associations may do some 
good, and they certainly have rights; but it 
is surely not one of them to call themselves a 
benevolent and charitable society, in which 
Christians can do more good to the world than 
they can in the Church of Christ. 

Grosch says (p. 86) : " We open for him 
(that is the Christian) a field beyond the limits 
of his Church." Then it must include angels 
or devils, or both, for our Saviour says of his 
Church, her " field is the world" the whole 
world, to teach everywhere the principles of 
true benevolence and charity. And He requires 
its practice toward all. 

" But," one said to me, " if they be expen- 
sive and unprofitable, and not benevolent, 
how does it come that shrewd merchants, 
sharp financiers, and business men are con- 
nected with them ? and intelligent, good men, 
and even clergymen, are connected with 
them ? " 

There is no doubt that these men often 
make their connection with them pay, in a 
selfish way. They often get an advantage 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 101 

over the rest of their fellow-men — a very un- 
just advantage. 

Webb (p. 32), in speaking of Masonic 
duties, says: "If you discover him to be a 
true and genuine brother, if in want, you are 
to relieve him; you are to employ him or recom- 
mend him to employment" 

And from Grosch we learn that their signs 
are to discover " a genuine Odd-Fellow ;" and 
that they are sworn, or pledged, to help one 
another in every interest, is undeniable. The 
merchant, business man, and mechanic, may 
find an advantage in having those in every 
city, who, at a signal, are compelled to help 
him. The politician surely knows it is no 
disadvantage to him ; and clergymen, and 
other professional men, have, through " help- 
ful influence," secured ecclesiastical, literary, 
and lucrative places ! These selfish induce- 
ments are sufficient to account for the connec- 
tion of many with these Orders. 

To call an Association, founded on such a 
principle of self-interest, and having such an 
exclusively and intensely selfish end, a moral 
and benevolent institution, is a sham and a 
fraud. Let them throw away their liturgy, 
9* 



102 SECKET SOCIETIES 

religious forms, and claims, and appear before 
the world and the Church as a mutual aid 
society, and one of the strong objections to 
them would be removed. 

Abolish all the secret orders in the United 
States, and it is doubtful if the poor w r ould 
suffer as much as by closing the soup-house of 
Cincinnati. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 03 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHARGES AGAINST THE CHURCH — THE DE- 
GREE OF REBEKAH. 

SOME persons give as a reason for joining 
these Orders, that the Church does not do 
her duty to the poor. We shall certainly 
admit that the Church is imperfect, and that 
she comes short of doing her whole duty to 
the sick and needy of the world ; but I have 
never found that persons who connected with 
these Orders for this reason, were, as Church 
members , any more charitable, according to 
their means, towards the poor, than those who 
do not thus reproach the Church, or than 
they were before such connection. I have 
asked such persons whether, as professed 
Christians, members of the Church, they were 
not required to do for the sick and needy of 
mankind, as much as they were by these 
Orders ? 



104 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Their reply, in substance, was: "O yes; 
but they don't do it." Yes, that is it. 
They do not obey the law of their Lord, do 
not do their duty as members of the Church of 
Christ; yet they complain that the Church, 
of which they are members, is defective. Let 
them tell the Lord the truth ; that by their 
disobedience to his law, and the disobedience 
of others, his kingdom has become so defec- 
tive in benevolence that they thought it best 
to join another kingdom, where they would not 
be compelled to help any but a very select, 
healthy, able-bodied few, that would help them ; 
that in this way they could do a great deal 
more for the poor, sinful, and miserable of the 
world than they could as Christians, in His 
name ! 

The Church, I know, does not promise men, 
if they will join her, that in case of sickness 
they shall be nursed and receive so much 
($2.00 or $3.00) a week ; that in case of death 
their funeral expenses shall be paid, and the 
widow receive thirty dollars. Men are not to 
be drawn into the Church from such motives. 
They are to connect with the Church in obe- 
dience to the Lord, to receive the means of 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 105 

grace and salvation, and to enjoy spiritual and 
eternal benefits. 

Then, in case of sickness of themselves or 
their families, or their destitution, there is a 
* law of the Lord's house, of higher sacredness 
and authority than that of any secret Order, 
requiring the members to nurse and care for 
Him and His ; not that it may be so done 
in return to them, but from the higher prin- 
ciple of obedience to the Lord, and love to 
Him and His. The Lord teaches His family 
the largest and purest principle of charity, and 
requires the practice of it in liberality and 
love toward every member. These are to be 
preferred; but others are not to be neglected. 
We are to "do good to all men." If the 
Church of Christ needed the showing, it 
would be easy to show that, according to 
her members, and their wealth, she spends 
immensely more in true genuine charity 
and beneficence, than any or all these secret 
Orders. 

But a very trifling part of the large incomes 
of Masonry and Odd-Fellowship is spent even 
in the Fraternity's charity. It is spent for 
furniture, regalia, banquets, gaudy display, etc. 



106 SECRET SOCIETIES 

I ask attention to the following extract from 
the " By-Laws of Lodge of the Craft, No. 433, 
Ancient York Masons," held in the city of 
New Castle, Pa. E. S. Durban, Printer, 1870. 
P. 18, Article XI. 

Section 1. In order to insure stability and perpetuity 
to this Lodge, and to enable it to exercise works of 
charity, there shall be raised a permanent fund, the 
interest of which shall be applied in the first instance 
to the payment of Grand Lodge dues for life members, 
and the residue thereof to aid brother Masons, their 
widows and orphans. 

Section 2. There shall be set aside for this purpose 
the following sums, viz. : 

1. The whole amount paid for life membership. 

2. Out of every fee for initiation and membership 
ten per cent. 

3. Out of every fee for the admission of a brother 
ten per cent. 

4. Out of every fee for conferring the three degrees 
by dispensation ten per cent. And all moneys or 
property that shall accrue to the Lodge by donation, 
gift, devise or otherwise, for this purpose. 

FEES. 

Section 1. The fees for conferring degrees and 
membership shall be as follows, viz. : 
For conferring the three degrees by 
dispensation, in addition to the 

expenses of the dispensation $45 00 

For initiation and membership 40 00 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 107 

For admission to membership, as follows : 
For the admission of an Entered Ap- 
prentice Mason $27 00 

For the admission of a Fellow Craft 

Mason 13 50 

Remember that Grand Lodge dues, the 
regalia, jewels, etc., of the Order, are no small 
items. Then from this table, and the follow- 
ing facts, the reader may justly infer that but 
a small per cent, of such a fund can be appro- 
priated for even Masonic charity. Paschal 
Donaldson, Grand Master of the Right 
Worthy Grand Lodge of Northern New York, 
says in his work: Their members in 1866 
numbered 179,564, and that they raised for 
relief $540,265.19. From speeches made by 
Colfax and Ridgely in Chicago, Sept. 19th, 
1871, we learn they claimed a membership 
of 350,000, and had an annual revenue of 
$3,000,000. And the amount spent in relief 
was $800,000. Nearly three-fourths of the 
revenue expended for other purposes. Surely 
a very costly benevolence that requires 
$3,000,000 to secure a little over one-fourth 
of that sum for the needy. 

The United Presbyterian Churchy with only 



108 SECEET SOCIETIES 

one-fifth the membership they claim, paid, last 
year, for missions, Church extension, the poor, 
and preaching the Gospel to the world, 
nearly $900,000 ! Remember, this was not 
given to aid one another in any worldly in- 
terest ; but the human race was to share in 
the benefit of all this fund. It was all given 
in true Christian benevolence. Other de- 
nominations, whose membership, including 
women, widows, the poor, and many young 
persons under age, hardly exceed, if they 
equal, that claimed for Odd-Fellowship or 
Freemasonry, gave over $800,000 for missions 
and Bible distribution alone. 

It is well known that these Orders spend 
vast sums in rich temples, elegant halls and 
furniture, costly regalia and grand banquets ; 
but we object to including this in charity 
funds. Some years ago, it was published that 
the Masonic fund or capital was $11,000,000, 
the yearly interest $787,500. How much of 
this was expended in Masonic charity f Of 
course, we have no means of knowing accu- 
rately, but from such data as can be reached, 
it is safe to say not one-tenth ; and according 
to their laws, none of it was spent in general 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 109 

charity. This, if done, must be clone by an 
additional, special assessment. 

Masonry and Odd-Fellowship claim to be 
great friends of freedom, and the great con- 
servators and disseminators of knowledge to 
the human race. It would be easy to fill 
pages from their lecturers and orators trum- 
peting these claims ; but Ave forbear to do this, 
and ask for the proof, — the works. What 
has the Order done for general education in 
any part of the world ? We do not ask what 
have individuals who have been connected 
with the Order done? but, what have they 
done as an institution ? As such, what did 
they do against the system of slavery in this 
land? What did they do for the suffering 
poor of the South? What have they done 
for the education and elevation of the Freed- 
men ? As Freemasons or Odd-Fellows, what 
have they ever done for Christian missions, 
for the spread of revealed truth and redemp- 
tion among the human race? In none of 
these benevolent enterprises can they show 
anything they have done. Yet they boast- 
fully compare themselves in benevolence with 
the Church of God ! The Church has done 
10 



110 SECRET SOCIETIES 

ten thousand times more, both for the bodies 
and souls of men ; but she does not need to 
sound a trumpet before her beneficiaries. Nay, 
she is forbidden to do so. We do not deny 
that these Orders may do what they claim to 
do for their members; but we do say, their 
claim to charity is false, and their benevolence 
a sham. 

DEGREE OF REBEKAH. 

As J have several times referred to the fact 
that these Orders " forbid the presence of 
women," it is necessary to take some notice 
of the above female degree in Odd-Fellowship. 
From Grosch (p. 170), we learn that the 
Vice-President of the United States, Bro. 
Colfax, is the author of this degree, and that 
it went into operation in 1852. Mr. Grosch 
says only " scarlet degree members of the 
Order, in good standing, and their wives, are 
eligible to this degree ; nor are any pecuniary 
benefits connected with it." P. 171 : "It must 
be conferred wholly in the presence of their 
husbands, and each other." " The continuance 
in good standing of the ladies of this degree 
depends entirely on the good standing, morally 
or pecuniarily, of their husbands!" "None 



SELF-CONDEMNED. Ill 

need feel the least hesitancy or timidity, as 
there is nothing in the least degree offensive or 
improper in the degree!" You will notice the 
wife marries the Lodge, as she does her hus- 
band's family, through her husband, and has 
about as much pecuniary interest in the one 
as the other. 

It has been supposed, in works of charity, 
women were more active, and fully as useful 
as men ; yet it seems in this most benevolent 
Order, they cannot be useful enough to make 
their degree beneficiary at all ! What then is 
her use in the Order ? It is that she may 
learn to keep her husband "good on the 
books," and to remind him of what the 
" Philosopher's stone" is, "Pay in advance." 
Says Grosch (p. 171), "It is the interest of 
every wife of an Odd-Fellow " (how many may 
he have?) to see that he is "good on the books 
of the Lodge." Her moral and financial 
credit depends on it. A Yankee might take 
the privilege of asking several questions here, 
such as these : If her husband may have de- 
grees conferred on him without her presence, 
why may she not have a degree without his ? 
And why is it necessary to assure her there is 



112 SECRET SOCIETIES 

nothing in the least degree offensive in that 
Degree? Does this imply that there is some- 
thing offensive in other degrees ? And why- 
may not " Rebekah " stand on her own moral 
and financial solvency ? Is it just that she 
should lose honor, caste, character, degree and 
benefits, for John's moral and monetary bank- 
ruptcy ? 

If the expression of some who have been 
wheedled into taking the " Degree," be an 
index to the feelings of all, they certainly do 
not feel flattered with the so-called privileges. 
They feel that so far from being an honor con- 
ferred on them, this degree is little short of a 
mockery and an insult. As presented by their 
own Past Grand Master and Patriarch, Rev. 
Aaron B. Grosch, it is not strange any intelli- 
gent Christian woman should thus regard it. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 113 



CHAPTER X. 

SEVERAL OBJECTIONS ANSWERED — OTHER 
SECRET SOCIETIES — OPPOSITION NOT PECU- 
LIAR TO UNITED PRESBYTERIANS — CON- 
CLUSION. 

THERE are many other reasons besides 
the foregoing why a Christian, especially, 
should not be connected with these societies ; 
but space will permit me only to touch some 
of them very briefly. 

The Institution of Freemasonry has been 
charged with the death of William Morgan, 
Batavia, New York, of William Miller, 
Belfast, Ireland, of Artemas Kennedy, near 
Boston, of Simmons, Albany, and of others; 
and such was the deep, public conviction and 
indignation against it, after the disappearance 
of Morgan, that Masonry was almost abolished 
in the United States at that time. We do 
not refer to these charges either to affirm, or 
10* 



114 SECRET SOCIETIES 

deny them ; and we do not wish to be under- 
stood as believing that anything like all con- 
nected with the Order would willingly 'either 
approve or connive at such crime. But we 
refer to them to show that it is one of the 
evils, of a society operated on the principle of 
Masonry , — the principle of habitual sworn 
secrecy; that it is more liable to such charges, 
and that it cannot satisfactorily disprove them, 
because of this false principle of action. It 
cannot be denied that, surrounding the death 
of some of these persons, there were some very 
suspicious circumstances that have never been 
satisfactorily explained ; and it is undeniable 
that the lecture and obligations connected 
with the Degree of Knights of the Ninth or 
Royal Arch, as given in Webb's " Monitor," 
by E. T. Carson (see 2d part, pp. 33—37), 
darkly hint that such vengeance might be 
required of a member ! In the summer of 
1870, Rev. Rathbun, who was then stationed 
at Buena Vista, Pa., was waylaid by persons 
in disguise, and beaten most brutally, until 
life was almost extinct. He was told it was 
for violation of his Masonic obligations, 
and revelations of them! This ambushed 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 115 

vengeance has so often befallen those who 
have left and opposed the Order, that it is not 
to be wondered at, if blame attaches to the 
institution. 

The extreme sensitiveness exhibited under 
opposition to the Order, from any source, is 
suspicious of the intolerance of a fair investi- 
gation into its character, claims, and operation. 
Everything else may be discussed. The 
government of the Church, the characters of 
public men, literary institutions, benevolent 
institutions — everything, indeed, can be re- 
viewed, and criticised, and investigated ; but 
Masonry must be let alone. The most candid 
and impartial investigation of this, as pre- 
sented by their own honored writers, is taken 
as oifensive, meddlesome spying ! Why is 
this? Is it above criticism? Must every- 
thing else in the world be subject to examina- 
tion, and Masonry alone exempt ? Or, can it 
not bear investigation ? It is right and just, 
at all times and in all places, to suspect any 
institution that will not give or suffer a fair 
report of itself. 

Again : It is said the oaths and obligations 
of some of these secret Orders interfere with 



116 SECRET SOCIETIES 

the execution of civil justice. There is some 
evidence to prove this charge, that cannot 
easily be set aside ; we shall not attempt to 
give it here at large. But, among other cases 
in court, let any one who wishes to examine 
it, read the testimony in the celebrated " Fort 
Ann trial," as reported in the New York 
Albany Evening Journal, for 1831. E. D. 
Colver, counsel for the plaintiff; Henry Thorn, 
Esq., for defendant. 

Again: In the religious ritual of both Odd- 
Fellows and Freemasons, in the prayers and 
songs as authorized by the Order, Christ as a 
Mediator is wholly ignored. And the autho- 
rized forms are required by law to be used. 
If a Christian man joins these Orders, becomes 
a Chaplain or Priest, or is appointed to lead 
in prayer, if he should commence his prayer 
by a confession that sinful man can have no 
access to God, his King, except through the 
merits of Jesus the Mediator ; therefore, in 
Jesus' name we present ourselves, asking Thy 
mercy for His sake; — if there should be a 
Jew, Mohammedan, Unitarian, or Infidel ? in 
that Lodge, and he should complain to the 
ruling officer, of such a prayer, that officer 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 117 

would be required, by law, to forbid the Chris- 
tian to pray in that name, and to compel him, 
as Chaplain or Priest, to confine himself to 
the ritual that is prepared to suit " the religion 
in which all men agree." 

In " A Digest of the Laws of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd-Fellows of Pennsylvania, 
Revised and Corrected by authority of the 
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania," we have, on 
p. 104, Law 507 : " Prayer may be used at 
the opening and closing of the Lodge; provided, 
that no member objects to its use, and that the 
following form be used." Then follow two 
forms, in which is not the slightest reference 
to Jesus, the Mediator and Redeemer. 

Grosch, on p. 186, foot note, recognises this 
law, and tells us it is " To prevent the prac- 
tice of praying peculiar religious opinions, 
which were offensive to members of the 
Order!" 

To a minister in this city, who is a Mason, 
and I have been told an Odd-Fellow also, I 
presented, as an objection, the above supposed 
case, and asked if it was not true ? All the 
answer I received was, "In such a case, I 
would mt pray at all!" But he could not 



118 SECKET SOCIETIES 

deny that such an objection to his prayer might 
be lawfully made, and that he had put him- 
self in such a position that, by a mortal man. 
Ins worship of his Saviour might be pro- 
hibited, or he would be compelled to present it 
in a form to harmonise with " the religion in 
which all men agree." 

He must either be a Christian coward (?) 
or disloyal to his Divine Master. His prayer 
could not be the expression of his heart's 
faith, love, and desire to God ; but he must 
become a kind of Hindoo praying machine, 
through which the dicta of the Order might 
be run. 

It would certainly be a great saving of 
breath and lung-labor, if, as their prayers 
are printed, they would fasten them to one 
of these old-fashioned yarn reels, and reel 
them off. Why would this not be just as 
good as running them through a vocal appa- 
ratus ? 

In almost every degree of Masonry, where 
portions of Scripture, songs, and prayers are 
used, there is a studied exclusion of the name 
of Jesus Christ. 

On p. 50, Mackey tells us that the blazing 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 119 

star seen in the Mosaic work, or tesselated 
border of the Lodge, used to be, according to 
Webb, "commemorative of the star which 
appeared to guide the Wise Men of the East 
to the place of our Saviour's nativity." But 
this, " being considered as too sectarian in its 
character, and unsuitable to the universal re- 
ligion of Masonry, has been omitted since the 
meeting of Grand Lecturers at Baltimore, in 
1842!" 

If the star is now in the Lodge, the lec- 
turer must interpret it to be a symbol of 
Divine Providence, or something else. Even 
such a slight recognition of Jesus as this was 
offensive to ih the religion in which all men 
agree ! " 

Out of twenty-three forms of prayer in the 
" New Masonic Trestle Board," published in 
Boston, in 1850, only one even alludes to 
Christ, and that in a very non-committal way, 
and by no means acknowledging him as a 
Mediator. 

Yet, the Word of God teaches us (Eph. v. 
20) to -'Give thanks always, for all things, 
unto God and the Father, in the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." And again, in 



120 SECRET SOCIETIES 

Coloss. iii. 17, "Whatsoever ye do in word or 
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God and the Father by 
Hixn." 

Jesus himself says (John xiv. 6) : " No 
man cometh to the Father but by me." 
The Christian faith is that sinful man can 
approach his Creator acceptably only through 
the merits and mediation of his Son, Jesus 
Christ ; and the Christian who engages in 
worship where this truth is ignored, deeply 
dishonors his Saviour. 

Not only is the atonement and mediation 
of Christ thrust out of their worship, but it 
seems that it is very offensive for a Christian, 
and a Christian minister, while performing the 
duties of a Masonic Orator, to refer to Jesus 
Christ at all, as is shown by the following ex- 
tract from the Mystic Star for 1870, a Masonic 
Monthly, published in Chicago. The editor 
says: 

" By the politeness of Grand Secretary 
Parvin, we have received a copy of the ad- 
dress of G. M. Mitchell, of Iowa, and also 
that of Grand Orator Kending, of the same 
State. They are both very able productions. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 121 

We regret, however, to notice a very excep- 
tional expression in Brother Kending's ad- 
dress. We refer to the phrase, 'earth's Creator 
and man's Redeemer, Jesus Christ.' This 
sentiment is purely sectarian, and, as such, is 
much at variance with Brother Kending's 
general good taste. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that not a tithe of those he addressed be- 
lieved in this sentiment. All Universal ists, 
all Israelites, all Spiritualists, and many- 
others, do not believe in it at all. And were 
all such removed from the fraternity, there 
would be precious few remaining ; so that it 
is altogether out of place on such an occasion. 
Brother Kending has a perfect right to his 
opinions, and to preach them in his pulpit; 
but to smuggle them into a Masonic Lodge is 
as inappropriate as it would be for a merchant 
brother to take his goods there to sell. Did 
we not thus protest against the introduction 
of any sectarian matter in any address to the 
craft, we would not do justice to our own feel- 
ings, nor to the rights of a large majority in 
the Order. Besides being in execrable bad 
taste, the practice is utterly subversive of the 
harmony that should pervade all our public 
11 



122 SECRET SOCIETIES 

gatherings. It is not right that any man 
should take advantage of his position as Orator 
to inflict upon his auditors sentiments they 
do not wish to hear ! " 

Whew ! What is the crime that excited all 
this Masonic indignation ? It is that a man 
who claimed to be a minister of Jesus Christ, 
but was a Mason, uttered in a public oration 
the words, " earth's Creator and man's Re- 
deemer, Jesus Christ ! " This is " very excep- 
tional," "purely sectarian/' "altogether out 
of place ; " it is " smuggling," it is in " exe- 
crable bad taste ; " " the practice is utterly 
subversive of harmony ! " How they must 
love that Divine Man, Jesus Christ! To 
take Him into the Lodge is smuggling ! A 
nice place for one of His faithful loyal minis- 
ters to worship in ! 

Remember, this sentence is from the Mystic 
Star: "All Universalists, all Israelites, all 
Spiritualists ; and were all such removed from 
the fraternity, there would be precious feiv re- 
maining" This assertion is not penned by 
Bernard or Finney, or one like the writer, 
that " know nothing about the institution," 
but by one now in the Lodge, and who has 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 23 

been both long and high in it! Congenial, 
close bound brothers, with the ardent lovers 
and ministers of Jesus Christ. Matt. x. 
32, 33. 

We, therefore, present as another objection 
to the Christians connecting with these Orders, 
that it binds them in close fraternity with 
characters of whom they are plainly forbidden 
to make companions. Here the Christian, and 
even the minister of Christ, is compelled to 
fraternize, in the closest intimacy of bonds and 
worship, with those whom he would not toler- 
ate in the Church of Christ, of w T hich he is a 
member, nor welcome to his parlor, nor recog- 
nize in his social circle ! And if the testi- 
mony of the Mystic Star be true, the great 
majority of his brotherhood in the Lodge are 
such. Surely the believer in such a place 
cannot say, like the Psalmist, " I am a com- 
panion of all them that fear Thee, and of 
them that keep Thy precepts." Have they 
forgotten that "evil communications corrupt 
good manners ? " And the Divine injunction : 
" Come out from among them, and be ye 
separate ? " 

Another objection is: The attractions and 



124 SECRET SOCIETIES 

demands of the Lodge break in too much upon 
the family circle, and home happiness. There 
is no time when, or place where, so much can 
be done to make home attractive, virtuous, 
ennobling and happy, as around the evening 
fireside, with all the family together. And ' 
no earthly means would be so mighty, or are 
so much needed to-day, to save the sons and 
daughters of our land from error and de- 
bauchery, as such homes. And these are 
impossible where the evening family circle is 
seldom or never unbroken. Yet here are the 
Masons, Odd-Fellows, Knights of Pythias, \ 
United Mechanics, Mystic Chain, etc., etc., to 
claim every night to a late hour. On p. 207, 
Grosch says : " Two, or, at most, three even- 
ings a week to attend subordinate and Degree 
Lodge, and Encampment, are usually suffi- 
cient." The italics are his. Suppose we take 
the lowest ordinary number, and a man be- 
longs to both Odd-Fellows and Masons, or 
Knights, or Mystic Chain, some two, as I 
know many do, then here are from four to six 
nights. Then suppose he is a Christian, and 
one night is given to prayer-meeting (is that 
too much to suppose?), then, leaving out 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 1 25 

Sabbath night, has he any evening at home? 
From three to six evenings a week to a late 
hour, the father and husband must be absent 
from his home. If business takes him away 
all day, and the Lodge and numerous other 
calls all evening, when is he to make the 
acquaintance of his family, give that instruc- 
tion, and foster that love of wife and children 
that must be cherished, if home is to be a 
place of influence and happiness ? 

It would be a happy omen for society if we 
could see men impatient to close the place of 
business, and hurrying gladly to their families. 
Instead of this, business is pushed to the last 
moment, and the evenings are spent in club 
rooms and lodges. The fact of parents and 
children being so little together as a family at 
home, finding their happiness in each other, 
is making sad havoc of home, harmony and 
influence. 

Here may be found one of the chief 
causes of frequent divorces and domestic 
unrest. Many would never have entered the 
path of dissipation, if they had not been called 
out so often at night. If they had furnished 
and found entertainment and happiness at 
11* 



126 SECRET SOCIETIES 

their firesides, they would have been safe. 
No loving wife is pleased with being left alone 
all the evening, feeling that her husband finds 
more enjoyment with other companions than 
with her ; and, if when he comes home, he 
must carefully guard secrets in which she can 
have no share. It would be immeasurably 
better if night schools, and night gatherings, 
and night services of all kinds, especially 
those in which husband and wife are separated, 
could be entirely avoided. 

There are many other objections to Chris- 
tians connecting with these Orders; but these 
shall suffice for the present. 

We are by no means alone as an individual, 
congregation, or denomination, in opposing 
such societies. Many eminent and learned 
men in the literary, political and religious 
world decidedly oppose them. But it is said, 
many patriotic, good and great men are mem- 
bers of them. Among others, it is paraded 
with much pride, that George Washington was 
a Mason ; and pictures of him, wearing his 
"Lambskin," are widely scattered over the 
country, to make as much out of this fact as 
possible. Yet from a letter written the year 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 127 

before he died, we may certainly infer he was 
not a very devoted member of the Lodge. 
He warned the whole country to beware of 
secret societies ; and in a letter dated, " Mi. 
Vernon, September 25th, 1798," he uses this 
language : " I have little more to add than 
thanks for your wishes and favorable senti- 
ments, except to correct an error you have run 
into, of my presiding over the English Lodges 
in this country. The fact is, I preside over 
none; nor have I been in one, more than 
once or twice, within the last thirty years. I 
believe, notwithstanding, that none of the 
lodges in this country are contaminated with 
the principles ascribed to the society of the 
Illuminati." A devoted and zealous Mason, 
they would have you believe him ; yet, after he 
attained the clear and mature judgment of full 
manhood, and had had some experience inside, 
he was inside " only once or twice within the 
last thirty years," although he lived to be 
almost threescore and ten ! 

Yet if Washington had been a faithful and 
enthusiastic member of the Order, it would be 
of little weight as an argument. We can give 
the testimony, decidedly against the institu- 



128 SECEET SOCIETIES 

tion, of many men as good, pious, and patriotic 
as he, who believe the principles of such asso- 
ciations hurtful to men, and injurious to 
Church and State. Hon. Thaddeus Stevens 
used his severe sarcastic rhetoric against them. 
I have already quoted from Hon. Wm. H. 
Seward, strong language against secret socie- 
ties. Rev. Charles G. Finney, a man distin- 
guished for learning and piety, tried the 
Lodge, and renounced it as hurtful. The 
great scholar and theologian, Timothy Dwight ; 
such scholars and orators as Everett; the 
great lawyer, Samuel Dexter; great States- 
men and patriots, such as the elder Adams, 
and Daniel Webster, have earnestly opposed 
these Orders. Christian denominations, such 
as the United Presbyterian, the United 
Brethren, the Covenanters, the Wesley an 
Methodists, the Puritan Methodists, a large 
number of individual congregations among 
Congregationalists, and Baptists, and large 
numbers in some of the Lutheran synods, 
have expressed strongly their disapproba- 
tion of them. We are by no means alone 
or singular in our opposition to secret so- 
cieties. 



SELF-CONDEMNED. 129 

We do not hold all secret associations in 
the same condemnation, nor has the United 
Presbyterian Church, in her testimony and 
laws, made her prohibition against all alike. 
We decidedly object to Christians connecting 
with those secret oath -bound Orders, that claim 
a moral and religious character, adopt a re- 
ligious liturgy purely theistical, and ad- 
minister forms of worship in which a Chris- 
tian can join only by a virtual denial of 
Christ. 

But there are others, such as Good Temp- 
lars, United Workmen, Trades Unions, etc., 
etc., against wdiich these objections may not 
lie ; yet, we disapprove of them, because con- 
ducted on a false and injurious principle, viz. : 
that of habitual secrecy, which is capable of 
so great abase. They are too narrow r and 
selfish, and are unfavorable to the encourage- 
ment of skilled, educated labor, and the equi- 
table promotion and reward of industry. Let 
a mechanic of any kind come into the city to 
seek employment ; he may be a most excel- 
lent and experienced workman, but if he is 
not in some association, his search will almost 
certainly be in vain. But let a botch and 



130 SECRET SOCIETIES 

cobbler, connected with these Unions, come on 
the same errand, and he can command recom- 
mendations from fellow-workmen, and secure 
employment, oftentimes to the great injury of 
his employer and the reputation of men of his 
trade. It is not the healthful, free competi- 
tion of skill and industry, but very often the 
contest of combined botchery, unfaithfulness, 
and laziness, against truthfulness, proficiency, 
and industry. 

The best workman, for sake of w r ork and 
provision for his family, is compelled, unwil- 
lingly, to pay the fees and enter a Union, 
where the wages are fixed at the same rate for 
the skilful and the clumsy, the faithful and 
the faithless, the industrious and the lazy ! 
This is unjust to employers, and injurious to 
every proficient, diligent, faithful tradesman. 

CONCLUSION. 

In respect to the Odd-Fellow and Masonic 
authors I have quoted, some members of 
these Orders have said : " Oh, these men only 
wrote thus to divert themselves and the public 
concerning the Order ! " Is this not charging 



SELF-COXDEMNED. 131 

these writers with a piece of shameful vil- 
lany? Others have said: " These writers do 
not truthfully represent the Orders ! " Then 
their highest and most honored members have 
been guilty of gross deception, in endorsing 
and recommending those authors and their 
works. 

If such be the character of its most honored, 
is it any wonder that good men have come out 
from them with the exclamation : " O my 
soul, come not thou into their secret ; unto 
their assembly, mine honor be not thou 
united!" 

I believe I have dealt fairly with these 
authors, and supported my objections to the 
Orders from them. I have so stated the evi- 
dence, that any who wish can examine it. 
What I have said is against the societies, and 
not against the individuals that compose them. 
I would scorn to count any man an enemy 
simply because he was connected with Pagans, 
Papists, Masons, Odd-Fellows, or any such 
associations. I have spoken plainly, candidly, 
and, I believe, from a sincere love to God and 
man ; and because of my profound conviction 
that such Orders are hurtful to man, and in- 



132 SECRET SOCIETIES SELF-CONDEMNED. 

jurious and dangerous to Church and State. 
In the name of Christ, and that benevolence 
and charity He taught and exemplified, I have 
written, and now submit the writing to the 
judgment of mankind. 



AN APPKAL TO YOUXG MEN; 

IF you are inclined or solicited to connect 
yourself with such Orders as Free 
Masonry and Odd-Fellowship, I entreat of 
you, as intelligent freemen, as citizens of a 
Republican Government, to seriously consider 
and investigate these questions : Are you 
willing to support a costly, haughty hierarchy, 
with its graded rank from simple Master to 
Grand King and Thrice Illustrious Puissant? 
from its simple Lodge up to the Most Wor- 
shipful Grand Lodge, that governs all below, 
levies taxes on them at its pleasure, claims a 
reversionary interest in all their funds, and 
can blot them out of existence for failing to 
pay dues, or for meeting when not authorized 
by Grand Lodge? 

Are you willing to support the religion of 
this hierarchy, to the reproach and exclusion 
of the Christianity that exalts and enlightens 
12 3 133 



134 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

your country, that purifies the hearts, reforms 
the lives and saves the souls of men ? Its re- 
ligion is bald Deism, with pompous pagan 
sacerdotal rites. 

In order to receive such privileges and ad- 
vantages as Free Masons offer, you must be 
rich enough to pay from $10 to $50 to enter, 
and in proportion for every step in the scale 
of degrees, up or down. In Odd-Fellowship, 
you must pay for the White, $2 ; for the Pink, 
$2 j the Royal Blue, $2 ; the Green, $2 ; the Scar- 
let, $3. Then you must pay a weekly or month- 
ly fee, amounting yearly to from $5 to any sum 
above that, which may be fastened upon you ; 
then in case the Lodge has liabilities, and the 
fund on hand is below $100, you must submit 
to an assessment; and on the last night of 
each term you must submit to a per capita tax 
of an indefinite amount ! Then you must buy 
yourself a regalia ; for this hierarchy requires 
all its servants to be in uniform. The law is, 
" No brother shall be permitted to enter the 
Lodge unless in proper regalia." (If you would 
see laws for all these, examine " A Digest of 
the Laws of the I. O. O. F., of Pa., 1869," 
and " General Laws for the Government of 
4 



-. 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 135 

Subordinate Lodges of the I. O. O. F., of the 
State of Michigan, 1868.") 

After all this, you may not be admitted. 
Even if your soul's salvation depended on it, 
you must be full 21 years, be perfectly white y 
have some certain means of support, and be 
"sound in heart, lungs, liver, wind and limb," 
for the laws say, " we have no right to initiate 
a diseased person." If you should be pros- 
trated by some chronic malady, that was upon 
you when admitted (see Pa. Digest, law 75), 
you will be debarred from the " benefit." By 
"benefit "here the Order does not mean what 
Paul in writing to Timothy meant by " par- 
takers of the benefit." 

But suppose you are able to endure all these 
taxes, are twenty-one, are white, can support 
yourself, wife and children, and are " sound 
in wind and limb," etc., yet, before you can 
enter, you must so far renounce your intelli- 
gence and manhood, and stifle your conscience, 
as to swear, or solemnly pledge and promise, 
to keep, under dire penalties, a most profound 
secret, things you have never either seen, 
heard, or touched; concerning the character 
of which you know nothing, whether right or 
5 



136 SECKET SOCIETIES. 

wrong, good or bad, beautiful or repulsive. 
You must pledge, promise, and swear by faith 
in the testimony of others, that you are doing 
right, that you are not ensnaring your soul 
and degrading your manhood. 

" Willing to put yourself under a galling and 
hateful espionage, take such oaths and pledges, 
accept the trust of such secrets ! " Then if you 
are called into court as a witness, be very care- 
ful what questions you answer, for you are 
watched. The lawyer's interrogations may be 
all relevant and right, but you may betray 
some " esoteric " teachings (as Mackey says) 
if yon answer them honestly. If so, beware! 
(See Fort Ann Trials, Albany Journal, of 
1831.) If you are a juryman, there are spies 
to watch how 7 you deal w r ith a brother in peril, 
within " the length of your cable tow ! " When 
you are talking before your wife, sons and 
daughters, "set a watch before your mouth," 
not for fear of saying something wrong or 
impure, but of letting out a sworn secret! 
Everywhere, remember you are not allowed 
" free speech." In shaking hands be careful 
not to press the ball of your thumb be- 
tween the thumb and finger of the wrong man, 
6 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 137 

yes ! To gratify a seductive and worthless 
curiosity, you have obtained a mystery that is 
a useless and chafing burden, that crushes out 
the openness, candor, self-respect, and freedom 
that ennobles true manhood ! 

On p. 48, Webb gives this strong argument 
against intemperance in a Mason, " The indul- 
gence might lead him to disclose some of those 
valuable secrets which he has promised to 
conceal, and never reveal, and which would 
consequently subject him to the contempt and 
detestation of all good Masons." Disclosing 
the secrets, not the intemperance, would subject 
him to "contempt and detestation." I am 
sorry to know that in the face of all the 
force of this reason many of them get 
" deeply drunk," and are in other ways in- 
temperate. 

Are you willing to take oaths and pledges 
on the judgment of others, and surrender your 
conscience to the keeping of other men ? Do 
you desire to become the sentinel of secrets 
without knowing their character and value, 
and the keeping of which must require a slavish 
restraint on hand, eye, and tongue, lest you 
expose yourself to fraternal disgrace and ven- 
18* 7 



138 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

geance ? He is unworthy the name of freeman 
who has subjected his opinions, looks, words 
and actions to the sentinelship of any earthly 
Master or Order of men. 

The charge is often made that the papal 
hierarchy oppress and rob the poor by heavy 
taxes, to build gorgeous, extravagant cathe- 
drals, for pompous, profitless rituals and cere- 
monies. Do you desire to subject yourselves 
to u Grand Lodge dues, fees, fines and ex- 
penses," taxes no less oppressive and unjust, 
to build grand Odd-Fellow and Free Mason 
temples, such as may be seen in New York, 
Philadelphia, Dayton, and elsewhere? It is 
true I have no means of knowing what 
these splendid structures cost, for these Orders 
neither make, nor permit to be made, any re- 
port to the public of their expenditures ; but, 
having seen these buildings, I know they 
cost immense sums, and I do know that poor 
laboring men, all over the country, have, in 
the shape of hard earnings, put their sweat 
and life-blood into them, and have received 
no more benefit from them than from St. 
Peter's in Rome, that has been a crushing 
burden on the heart of Italy's poor for ages. 
8 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 139 

And these temples, as useless and almost as 
gorgeous and extravagant, are little less bur- 
densome and oppressive. 

If you have a family, will their claim on 
you justify you in submitting to such a drain 
on your wages, as furnishes the extravagant 
gold and silver bespangled regalia, costly ban- 
quets, and all the appurtenances of the "ele- 
gant first-class ball?" Are you so anxious 
to wear the meretricious ornaments of a " lamb- 
skin apron," "embroidered collar," "gauge 
and gavel," and to be called Grand and Noble 
Grand, Master and Worthy Worshipful Mas- 
ter, and Most Excellent General Grand High 
Priest, and King, and Royal Scribe, and 
Thrice Puissant, and Generalissimo; that for 
these trappings and honors you are willing 
to surrender freedom of conscience, judgment 
and tongue, and paj a heavy tax in the way 
of initiation fees, dues, fines, time, loss of 
rest and home society ? 

You say you wish to provide some " bene- 
fits" for yourself and family in case of sick- 
ness, disability or death. Then, far better, 
lay up your spare earnings in a savings hank, 
or life insurance company ; or, better still, in 
9 



140 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

a lot or piece of ground, be it ever so small, 
on which you can build a " home, be it ever 
so humble," etc. It would be much cheaper, 
and very much safer. Savings banks and 
insurance companies are required to make re- 
ports to the public and to legislatures, and you 
have some security for the safety of your de- 
posit; but these secret Orders, by reason of 
their secresy, are more liable to corruption. 
They make no report, and tolerate no inves- 
tigation. They are wholly irresponsible. 

Any Order that asks your adherence to 
and confidence in it, and yet will not ac- 
quaint you with its obligations and principles, 
or permit you to investigate its character and 
operations, until by solemn oath or pledge 
you bind yourself to it, asks the privilege of 
violating your freedom, insulting your self- 
respect and manhood, and robbing you of your 
property with impunity. 

You wish to cultivate and practise charity. 
These are not charitable institutions. "What a 
ridiculous mockery ! Help a man (suppose 
they do) out of his own earnings, and call thi? 
benevolence and charity! The best that can 
be said of them in truth, is that they are un- 
10 



AN APPEAL, TO YOUNG MEN. 141 

safe, irresponsible mutual aid societies. Does 
the Church not open a field wide enough for 
charitable operations? Its "field is the 
world/' and it inculcates a charity that is not 
a principle of self-interest, but a compassion 
and love for the needy and suffering ; because 
they are such, not because of their sect, sex, 
fraternity, or nationality. And if you are a 
Christian, your care and watching with the 
sick, your gifts, kindnesses and sympathy 
with the needy and sorrowing, -are to be an 
expression of love to the Lord Jesus, and to 
His children and creatures, an act of obedi- 
ence to Him for the commendation and honor 
of His religion, and not works to garnish a 
Lodge, and honor the name of some human 
fraternity. In the Lodge, both in your forms 
of worship and in your works, you must 
virtually deny the Lord Jesus. And remem- 
ber, to deny Him, is to be denied by Him ! 

Remember, again, in giving your time, 
talents and means to these useless and un- 
necessary Orders of human device in their 
operations, you are taking them away from 
their use in God's ordinances of family, 
Church and State, where they rightly belong; 
11 



142 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

and you are casting a very false and sinful 
reflection on these Divine appointments ! 
Your conduct implies that instruction, pro- 
tection, freedom, charity, and happiness cannot 
be secured to mankind through these, and 
that they are insufficient to secure the welfare 
of the human race ! Is this so ? These 
secret Orders can do no possible good that 
cannot be better done through the Family, the 
Church, and the State — God's own appointed 
and commanded ordinances. Odd-Fellowship 
and Freemasonry propose no good that these 
are not better adapted to secure, and that 
these, where rightly administered, do not 
infallibly secure. Then, if you take from 
these divinely appointed institutions the time, 
money, talent, energy and influence which 
God gives you to be expended only in con- 
nection with His appointments, what wonder 
that neither of these prospers as it should, or 
accomplishes the good it might, or is respected 
as it ought to be ? 

The aggregate talents, wealth, energy and 
influence of the members of any community is 
not greater than is needed for the accomplish- 
ment of the work of that community in its 
12 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 143 

several departments of domestic, civil, and 
religious association. Let all the work of 
each be performed through the means God 
has appointed, and all the talent, time and 
influence of every individual in the community 
will be fully occupied. There will be nothing 
to spare for anything else. The full employ- 
ment of each and all will make society happy 
and prosperous. But divide these energies, 
either by the idleness or absence of the mem- 
bers, or by employing them in other institu- 
tions than those God has ordained, and they 
will inevitably fail to the extent to which 
they are deprived of the presence, energy and 
talent of these persons who should be operat- 
ing through them. 

Then, is it any wonder, that in these days, 
when there are so many following other 
things, laboring for and with other secret or 
open institutions, than the family, the church, 
and the State, that the work of these is only 
very imperfectly done ? And can this work 
ever be done, while such a state of things 
exists ? No ! No ! Eeason says, No ! Ex- 
perience says, No! We have tried it, and 
matters are only growing worse. God, in 
13 



144 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

Revelation, says, No ! " I will not give my 
glory to another ! " 

Then, O young man, listen not to the Syren 
Song about advantages of any kind in any 
secret association whatever. It is the old 
story : " Ye shall be as gods." This was full 
of deception, sin and death! There is some- 
thing remarkably seductive and ensnaring in 
secrecy to the human heart, and through your 
curiosity, excited by dark mysteries that are 
claimed to be of wondrous value, these Orders 
seek to secure power over you. But beware, 
it may be fail to look upon, dazzling to the 
sight, winning to the imagination, stirring to 
the emotions ; but, remember, the serpent has 
a glitter, and the eyes of the basilisk fascinate. 
These have strong chains to bind you in 
slavish submission to human control, neither 
appointed nor approved of God. 

These Orders are certainly not needed to 
help your religious or spiritual life. Bald 
Theism or Deism, taught through forms and 
titles of mediaeval chivalry and pagan cere- 
monies, is not helpful, but hurtful. Nay, 
more, it is ruinous to such a life. Connection 
with these Orders will not help your patriotism 
14 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 145 

and civil duties, but tend to corrupt these. 
Their obligations and influence on the judg- 
ment very often prevent impartial trials in 
our Courts of Justice. During this winter 
(1872) term of Court in this city, New Castle, 
Pa., when a jury was to be impanelled in a 
certain case, you might have seen a certain 
lawyer with a list of jurors marked thus: 
Mr. C, a Mason, Mr. F., an Odd-Fellow, 
Mr. G., a Mason, etc. ! What did this 
mean ? This lawyer, being a fraternity man, 
knew it would be greatly to the interest of his 
client to get Messrs. C. and G. on that jury. 
What would you think if a lawyer should 
make up his jury by the test, that Mr. A. was 
a Methodist, Mr. B. a United Presbyterian, 
and Mr. D. a Baptist ? Would you not say, 
it is supposed these men will seek not justice, 
but to favor the criminal at the bar, because he 
is a brother in the Church ? Would not such 
a lawyer and jury be justly liable to suspicion? 
Since writing the above, a lawyer told 
me he lost a case in this Court through 
members of secret Orders on the jury ; and 
after the trial was over, he said to the opposing 
client : " Mr. C, in that case the evidence 
13 15 



146 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

was strong against you ; the charge of Judge 
T. was strong against you ; how did you come 
to win it?" Mr. C. replied: "If the evi- 
dence and charge had been ten times as strong, 
I would have beat you with that jury!" 
Comment is needless. 

True, there may be no oath in words such 
as these: "You swear, when on a jury, to 
favor an Odd-Fellow or Freemason on trial 
before you, and to vote for such when a can- 
didate for office in preference to any one else ; " 
but every intelligent man knows there are 
obligations and instructions that have at least 
an indirect force upon this ; and that this is 
the tendency of all such combinations. It is 
absurd to tell intelligent men that these Orders 
do not interfere with the freedom and purity 
of the elective franchise in every election in 
the land. I believe it might be asserted, with 
truth, that they injure every profession and 
trade in the country, by giving charlatans and 
scoundrels a chance to get employment, wages, 
office, and honor. 

Did time and space permit, it would be easy 
to give you other proofs that these Orders, 
because of their secrecy, illegal obligations, 
16 






AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 147 

partiality, power to intimidate, corrupt, and 
terrify, etc., are a great evil and danger in our 
free and beloved country. 

But suffer me to present at least one more 
consideration. If you have a wife and chil- 
dren, how can you reconcile it w T ith love to 
them to spend the most precious hours of 
many evenings away from them ? Is it not 
shameful injustice to them? Suppose your 
wife should connect herself with some exclu- 
sive female sisterhood, spend many of her 
nights, and much of her money there, and 
refuse to let you know anything about the 
doings and expenditures there, telling you she 
had solemnly sworn or promised, under dire 
penalties, to tell you nothing about it, how 
would you like this ? How long would you 
endure this ? Of late, to try to appease their 
wives and female friends, Masons and Odd- 
Fellows have invented certain kinds of non- 
beneficial side degrees for women, as if this 
would be a compensation for the wrong and 
insult they are guilty of towards them ! Can 
you hope to retain the love and confidence of 
your wife and family, if you thus neglect 
them, or only offer such a paltry and insulting 
17 



148 SECRET SOCIETIES. 

recompense ? Is not the happiness of home 
more important than the benefits or interests 
of any Lodge or Fraternity ? And can you 
hope to secure this, if you seldom or never 
have the fireside gathering, the romp with the 
children, and the evening conversation or 
reading with your wife? 

Can you not do more for the culture of your 
mental, moral, and social nature in your own 
home, than in listening to the teachings, and 
observing the " rituals and ceremonies " that 
"forbid the presence" of your wife, daughters, 
or sisters? If you would shield your sons 
and daughters from temptation and corruption, 
make home the happiest place to them ; and, 
as a means to this end, make them feel, by 
your presence among them as much as possi- 
ble, that it is the dearest place to you. 

Young men, if you regard your own free- 
dom of conscience, self-respect, and true 
Christian manliness, avoid these secret Orders. 
If you desire to preserve affection and happi- 
ness in your homes, do not sacrifice your 
evenings to the tom-fooleries of fraternities. 
If you desire to have your republican Govern- 
ment, and its best interests preserved to this 
18 



AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 149 

and future generations, avoid, and, by all 
proper means, oppose all secret Orders. If 
you desire to cultivate and practise Christian 
charity, avoid secret societies ; they are selfish- 
ness. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, 
remember they dishonor Him. "Let the 
Word of Christ dwell in you richly," then 
you shall be strong, and " overcome the 
wicked one." 

" Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, 
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds 
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth, 
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be 
made manifest that they are wrought in God." 
13* 19 



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